Raw
by Hewlett Potter
Summary: After the war, the trio returns to Hogwarts to finish their seventh year. While Ron and Harry welcome their return to normalcy, Hermione misses the excitement of their old way of life. She decides to pursue a career as an Auror, and in doing so realizes how her path is changing her in every aspect...
1. Chapter 1

Headmaster McGonagall peered at Hermione from over her spectacles. "Hermione, you know training to be an Auror is a lot of work."

Hermione bit her lip anxiously, staring at her former teacher sitting across the headmaster's desk. "Please, Professor, I really do think I can do it. I study constantly, I received eleven OWLs last year, I –"

McGonagall cut her off. "Hermione, I have no doubts about your capabilities. Ever since first year you have distinguished yourself as the top academic student in your year at Hogwarts. And since the end of the war, no one has any qualms about your bravery or valor. I merely meant to….warn you."

Hermione cocked her head quizzically. "Warn me of what, Professor?"

"I understand, the allure of becoming an Auror can be strong. It's a highly sought after position and very few are technically capable of the magic it requires. I just want you to realize that training to become an Auror changes you…it changes you greatly. Being an Auror is not just a profession, it's a lifestyle. You have to fully accept every difference it will make in you in order to be successful – and in order to be safe."

Hermione stared at her former professor. "I don't mind change, Professor. If anything, I'm ready for a challenge."

McGonagall stared at her silently for a moment, appraising her. "Well, I for one have great faith that you will make an excellent Auror. The Auror Academy requires that any entering students begin their training in their seventh year of school, prior to enrolling in the Academy. You will be assigned a mentor, who will pick you up at your living chambers tomorrow morning to begin your training. I know it is a week before classes start, but the Auror schedule does not quite operate around other priorities, I'm afraid. Your mentor will work with you to fit your training around your other schoolwork. Do you have any more questions about your schedule this year?"

Hermione shook her head, holding back a smile, and rose from her seat across from the Headmaster's desk.

"Fantastic, then you are all set to complete your seventh year. I wish you well. Oh, and Hermione?" McGonagall called after the girl as she started out the door.

"Yes?" she answered, turning.

"Congratulations on your appointment as Head Girl. You've done Gryffindor proud," McGonagall said, her eyes twinkling.

"Thank you." Hermione beamed as she exited the room. She bounded down the steps of the Headmaster's office, eager to tell Harry and Ron about her new training schedule.

The trio had originally all harbored dreams of becoming Aurors, but since the war their plans had changed. Ron's family was still painfully recovering from their losses in the war. Fred's death still hung heavily over them all – Ron's priority was to help his family regroup. He no longer had dreams of pursuing evil wizards after defeating Voldemort had taken such a toll on his personal life – the thought of his family losing another member was too painful for him to justify putting his life in constant danger as an Auror.

Harry was just tired of being targeted. He had faced death constantly over the last several years and come out unscathed – he was wondering how many more times he would be able to get away successfully. Since he was no longer marked by Voldemort to fight, he didn't want to fight at all anymore. After defeating Voldemort, the trio had garnered much attention in the magical community. All three had received numerous high profile job offers from the Ministry of Magic upon their future graduation of Hogwarts. Harry and Ron seemed content to pursue those careers, happily awaiting some degree of normalcy in their lives.

Hermione, on the other hand, was restless. She had had her first taste of justice while fighting Voldemort, and she was hungry for more. She wanted to spend the rest of her life in pursuit – in pursuit of evil, in pursuit of high intensity situations and magic that most of the wizarding community would never even see, let alone perform. Not satisfied after the defeat of Voldemort, she alone of the trio still wanted to become an Auror.

After the war she traveled to Australia to find her parents. She brought them back home and restored their memory; however, she couldn't bring herself to talk to them about what had happened over the past year. She didn't want them to worry about her or know what she had been through. She couldn't tell them about the losses she had suffered or what she had done to protect them – she felt too guilty.

So instead she turned to Ron's family. She spent most of the spring and summer months at the Burrow, using her burgeoning relationship with Ron as an excuse. She found solace in his intimate hugs and sweet kisses. She found a family in the other Weasleys, who were coming together to cope with the death of one of their own. She helped the Weasleys through that summer, cooking and cleaning when Mrs. Weasley sat on the couch in a glazed trance, as she often did those days. She talked to Ginny and let her cry in front of her, often sitting beside her without saying a word for hours.

Try as she might, she couldn't get through to George. The surviving twin was solemn, much quieter since Fred had died. No one was really sure how well he was coping, or if he was at all. But Ron seemed to take comfort in Hermione's constant presence. They talked and talked for hours on end, putting the war and all their grief behind them. Harry visited often, also searching for solace in his two best friends. Although all three had suffered great losses, they were slowly healing and relishing the fact that things would return to the carefree life they remembered during their first few years at Hogwarts.

However, Hermione wasn't so sure if she was ready for normal. She didn't know if she wanted to give up the life the trio had led over the past few years, chasing Voldemort across the countryside. She had grown restless while comforting the Weasleys, ready to move on and search for more excitement. She hoped her Auror training would satisfy the craving for the danger she had been lacking in her life lately.

"Novus," Hermione whispered to the Fat Lady, who smiled as she swung open to let Hermione into the common room. She entered to the cheers and welcomes of her fellow Gryffindor seventh years.

After the war had ended, the Ministry of Magic had deemed the last year at Hogwarts not suitable education for all those in attendance. Any witch or wizard that wished to graduate had to repeat the year, so Harry, Ron, and Hermione rejoined their classmates for their final year of Hogwarts.

"How did it go?" Ron asked as she slid onto his lap and shyly gave him a kiss on the cheek. Their relationship had taken off after the war had ended, and it was nice to be able to explore their feelings without the constant danger presiding over their lives as it had in previous years. However, they only had experience acting as a couple in the privacy of the Weasley home, and Hermione was still slightly shy under the prying eyes of her classmates.

"It went wonderfully! McGonagall approved me for Auror training. I was worried she wouldn't – she went on for a while about how becoming an Auror may change you…I thought she was worried about me. But then she said she thought I would do fine, and that my training starts tomorrow!"

"She was probably just trying to warn you about what could happen – I mean, look what happened to Moody," Ron snorted, "with all his 'constant vigilance" bull, he went practically batty."

"Do you know who your mentor is yet?" asked Harry, leaning back on a footstool.

"Not yet, they are coming to get me at my chambers tomorrow."

"Oh yeah that's right, I forgot the Head Girl gets her own chambers!" said Ron excitedly, wrapping a piece of her hair around his fingers.

"Well, not to myself exactly…I have to share a common room with the Head Boy. Has anyone heard who it is yet?"

"No one has any clue," said Parvati, shrugging. "It's no one in Gryffindor. We all figured it would be someone in Ravenclaw, but I asked Luna Lovegood and she had no idea either."

"Well then, let's go see your room, Hermione," said Ron. "I reckon you're lucky, you can escape this lot whenever they start to bug the shit out of you," he joked, dodging a couch cushion Dean lobbed at his head.

"Yes but wherever will I hide from you?" she answered as Harry shoved Ron playfully through the portrait hole.

Hermione relished the atmosphere that had settled through the castle as the seventh years returned – the somber mood had finally started lifting after three years and the castle had become the place of joy that she remembered from her preteen years. The trio laughed and leaned on each other on their journey to Head Tower, on the opposite side of the castle from the Gryffindor common room.

Hermione linked her arm with Ron's as they made their way up the last flight of stairs, letting him support her up the tower. "I can't wait for this year to start, guys," she said happily. "It's going to be a whole new beginning." Harry tugged on her braid from behind her, and she turned to smile at him as they stopped at a portrait of a red dragon at the top of the stairs.

"Here it is!" Hermione announced triumphantly. "Head Tower…password is…conjunctus!" The dragon portrait roared and swung aside, and Hermione walked through the opening, pushing aside a sheer red tapestry as her mouth swung open in shock.

"Hello, Granger."

"Malfoy," she sneered between clenched teeth.

Ron stumbled in behind Hermione. "What are you doing in here?" he asked Malfoy, his mouth open in shock.

"What do you think, Weasley?" Malfoy shot back. "I'm Head Boy, how else would I have gotten in here?"

"No shit, I just can't believe they would let scum like you back in the school, much less in the Head Boy position," Ron said as he started towards Malfoy. Harry and Hermione each grabbed one of his arms.

"Ron, please don't, not in my room."

"Yeah, Weasley, better listen to your girlfriend. By the way, I saw you two making out in the Great Hall yesterday. Disgusting. If I wanted to lose my lunch I would have eaten something prepared for me by that sad house-elf of mine, Dobby."

"YOU SHUT UP ABOUT DOBBY," roared Harry, brandishing his wand as Malfoy quickly followed suit.

"That's enough!" screamed Hermione, quickly stepping in between the two boys and covering their wand tips with her hand. "Harry, Ron." She turned to them, her voice begging. "Please go, just go. If I'm stuck with him all year I'd better learn how to deal with him now."

"Hermione, there's no way were leaving you here with this prat, he's foul," said Harry, his eyes locked on Malfoy's in a death stare as Malfoy smirked back.

"Please Harry, Malfoy's pathetic, he couldn't hurt a fly. Now just go, I can't have you three fighting in here. I don't want to get in trouble my first week as Head Girl." She practically pushed them through the tapestry and out the portrait hole.

"Don't worry Weasley, I'll take good care of your girlfriend for you," Malfoy called behind them as Hermione shut the portrait hole.

"OOOOH, Malfoy, thank you for making that the worst possible start to our year as Head Girl and Head Boy," Hermione fumed, shooting him a look of fury.

"You started it." Malfoy shrugged, walking away from her and to the common room window.

"We're going to have to deal with each other all year, Malfoy – we have to work together to manage the prefects, for Merlin's sake. I can't be in a constant battle with you in here. It's too small, we'll blow each other to pieces."

"Hermione, I am perfectly content to approach this year in whichever way you see fit, just say the word."

"Well, why don't you start by not attacking my friends the minute they step in the door?"

"Harry pulled his wand on me, I was merely defending myself."

"Ugh, I cannot believe this is happening. I don't know how I am going to manage an entire year living with you."

"Granger, come here for a moment." Malfoy motioned at the table. Hermione remained still with a scowl on her face. "Seriously, come here and sit." Hermione walked over sullenly and sat at the table, wearing an angry expression. Malfoy sat across from her, his grey eyes serious and his blonde hair brushed aside haphazardly.

"Look, clearly I didn't come back to this school to bask in hoards of praise like the three of you did," he said flatly. Hermione opened her mouth to retort but he held up his hand to continue talking. "I don't mean that in a bad way. I just mean that this year, Slytherins are basically going to be outcasts at Hogwarts, myself especially. I'm just here to continue with my life, graduate, and move on. I had good grades here before the war started, and I'm not one to just throw my life away because I screwed up. I won't bother the three of you if you all just stay out of my business and leave me alone. I'm willing to stick to this if you all are as well. What do you say?"

Hermione eyed him suspiciously. "Malfoy, how am I supposed to forget six years of torture at your hands? Or did you forget that you tried to kill the three of us in the Room of Requirement last year?"

"Hang on a minute, I didn't try to kill you, that was Crabbe."

"Bull, you were in there with him. You drew your wand."

"I was searching for Potter to give me back my wand. He had it from when he disarmed me. However, I don't need to talk about the war with you, Granger. My father's name has been cleared by the Ministry – he was tortured by Voldemort into obeying. My name was never even up for discussion. Now either you can be mature about this and agree to coexist peacefully with me, or we can resign ourselves now to a year filled with hatred and tension. It's your choice." Malfoy held his palm out, face up, in a firm gesture. Hermione hesitated before taking it, refusing to look him in the eye as she did so. "Great, that's settled. I'm hitting the sack. Goodnight, Granger," he said, getting up from his seat and stalking off towards his room.

Hermione watched his retreating back angrily. She had no idea how she was going to manage a whole year living in the same quarters as Malfoy. She'd have to try, somehow.

Hermione awoke the next morning around six to a light knocking on the door to the Head chambers. She yawned sleepily and grabbed a woven blanket off her bed, wrapping it around her shoulders as she shuffled to the portrait hole. She shoved it open and peered out through bleary eyes.

In front of the portrait hole stood a young girl, who looked not much older than Hermione. Hermione's first thought was that she was beautiful. The girl had narrowed blue eyes with dark lashes, a tiny nose and pink full lips. Her tiny frame was surrounded by long dark brown straight hair. Her skin was strikingly olive, and she looked far too awake for the early hour.

"Umm, good morning. Can I help you?" said Hermione politely, squinting out into the dim castle lighting.

"Good morning Hermione. I am Megan Hewlett," replied the girl. "I am your Auror mentor."

"You-you are?" Hermione stammered.

"I'm sorry I didn't introduce myself at a more appropriate hour, but I just arrived at Hogwarts late last night and you'd already retired. I figured this morning is as good of a time as any though. Are you ready for your first morning of training?"

McGonagall's words came rushing back to Hermione. "Right. Training. I'll, um, just grab my robes and be – "

"You won't need robes, Hermione. You don't need your wand either – we won't be using any magic. Put on something comfortable. We're beginning your physical training today."

Hermione stared back at the girl through her half open eyes. "Physical training. Right."

Hermione walked outside, her eyes adjusting to the barely sunlit morning. Megan was standing in the middle of an open field coated with dew, her hands on her hips, facing the rising sun. She turned and smiled when she saw Hermione and instantly began speaking to her.

"One of the most important parts of becoming an Auror is being in top physical shape. Most wizards do not consider this an important part of their magical training. Starting today, you will." Megan shed her tracksuit, revealing tight spandex shorts and a top covering an impossibly muscled body. "Let's begin by running. Don't worry if you can't keep up with me today. You will eventually."

Hermione glanced down at her baggy sweatpants and loose hoodie and shrugged determinedly. "I'm ready. Let's do this."

Megan turned and took off without a word and Hermione, surprised, ran to catch up after her. Megan immediately began talking to her while they ran.

"Hermione, the first thing to understand about becoming an Auror, as Headmaster McGonagall has no doubt already told you, is that being an Auror is a lifestyle, not a profession. Being an Auror isn't like having a job at the Ministry of Magic, where you head in at nine o' clock, focus for eight hours, and then punch out at eight and release yourself. Being an Auror means you are on the job every minute of every day. Having an off day doesn't mean your boss gets angry with you. Having an off day means you will die at the hands of another wizard. Do you understand?"

"Uhh…yes," replied Hermione, stumbling over a branch as she panted behind Megan.

"How many rabbits have we passed so far?"

"Huh?"

"Answer the question."

"Umm, I think I saw one before we first started out…"

"Wrong. We passed seven. Eight including the one five feet to your left." Hermione glanced to her left and started, surprising a rabbit exactly where Megan had pointed it out. "Vigilance is of utmost importance. You need to be aware of every aspect of your surroundings at all times as an Auror. Your senses will improve. You will learn to operate without your eyes, without your ears, and without your sense of touch. All your senses will grow stronger, because you will depend on every single one during every single second. I've heard an awful lot about you, Hermione. You're an incredible witch."

"Thank you," Hermione said, surprised at the sudden compliment.

"You and Harry and Ron went through a lot last year, and performed a lot of magic that most wizards won't be able to perform in their lifetime. That experience gives you an incredible advantage over most Aurors-in-training. However, this path is very difficult. Do you know how many Aurors-in-training there are this year, Hermione?"

"No," she huffed.

"There are six. Two from Hogwarts, one from Durmstrang, and three from Beauxbatons. Roughly one Auror completes the Academy…every five years. The odds are heavily stacked against you, that's why so few Aurors exist in the wizarding community."

Hermione wondered to herself who the second Auror-in-training at Hogwarts was.

"But if you do as I tell you, and you have the drive to succeed, you will feel yourself start to change in every way. How are you feeling, Hermione?"

"I'm ok," she said, trying not to sound exhausted.

"We've run a mile and a half so far. I don't want to shock you on your first day, so we'll only run a mile more before we quit. Lose your jacket," Megan said, glancing at Hermione over her shoulder. Hermione awkwardly pulled her jacket off and flung it off to the side, running quickly past it.

"Your magical training won't start until you reach the Academy. It would be too rigorous for you to attempt while still attending Hogwarts. However, the Auror Academy wants you to start preparing by beginning your physical training immediately. Having your body in top shape is just as important as having a sharp mind and advanced technical wand skill. Too often on the job you will find yourself facing a Muggle opponent, yourself without a wand, or yourself in some other situation where it is impossible to use magic to defend yourself. You will have to fight your way out and use your body to protect yourself and whoever else is in danger. That is what you will be learning with me here at Hogwarts – to fight, and mainly, to defend."

"You are already at a disadvantage because you are a female, and a small female at that. You will have to work even harder and learn to fight smarter to be able to overcome physical disadvantage. Luckily, I had to overcome this as well, and I am ready to teach you everything I know. For the first week before classes start, I'm going to train you one on one every day, getting you in shape and teaching you how to fight. Once you have the basics down and once classes start, I'll train you and my other student together. Slow down gradually here, we've gone far enough."

Hermione slowed to a light trot, breathing heavily. Her forehead was beaded lightly with sweat, and steam blew off of her hair in the cool foggy morning. The sun had risen higher in the sky; Hermione guessed it to be about seven o' clock. The rest of Gryffindor would be waking up soon and heading to breakfast. Megan stopped in front of her and began stretching.

"Megan," Hermione asked, "who is the other Hogwarts Auror-in-training?"

"You'll meet soon enough. I want to make sure you'll both make it through the first week of training. You kept up, you're doing well so far." Megan shot Hermione a grin as she bent over to stretch her calf.

Hermione glanced around at her surroundings while throwing her arm across her body. She wasn't familiar with this part of Hogwarts. They were in a wooded area, yet far from the Forbidden Forest.

"Begin to get used to everything around you out here. Use all your senses – not just sight, but sound, taste, sense, and smell. I'm going to be asking you questions about your surroundings every day so that the rabbit question will seem easy. You're going to be able to tell the temperature by the degree, how many birds there are in a square mile by the sound, and how long ago it last rained. You're going to push your senses beyond the normal threshold, further than they were ever meant to be used."

"Megan, why do I need to have such strong senses?"

"Because. Every waking second for an Auror brings new danger. By having heightened senses, you will learn how everything feels when it is in place. Therefore, you will become very aware when something is out of place, and this will help you to realize when you or someone else is in danger before it becomes apparent to anyone else. You were born a Muggle, yes?"

"Yes." Hermione nodded.

"So you have heard of fictional superheroes? They all supposedly have heightened senses that help alert them to danger. You will get these heightened senses by pushing your senses to the limit so that they will drastically improve. In a sense, Aurors are the real living superheroes of the wizarding community. How are you feeling, Hermione?"

"I'm okay, resting a little."

"Are you feeling overwhelmed?"

"Can I say yes?"

"Yes."

"Then yes, I am."

"Great. I'd be concerned if you weren't. You ready? Now, we fight."

Hermione dragged herself into the castle around eight o' clock in the morning. After their run, Megan took her to an open area of the woods. She conjured a dummy made of fabric using a verbal chant and trained Hermione for another hour on the basics of fighting: several simple punches and kicks. She made Hermione practice over and over until she had perfect form on each of the maneuvers she learned. Then she let Hermione go back to the castle, but only after a lecture about using the rest of the day to stretch her body and limber up. The training would become even more difficult in the days to come, so Hermione would have to start preparing in advance.

Breakfast in the Great Hall was wrapping up by the time Hermione entered. She made her way over to the Gryffindor table, where Harry and Ron waved her over.

"Hey – we were about to ditch you, that took forever," said Ron, standing to kiss her on the cheek. "Blech – you stink!"

"Well in that case," grinned Hermione, grabbing him from behind and nuzzling her face in his neck while Ron struggled to get away. "Don't think you're safe, Harry!" she cried as he laughed at them, pulling him into the hug with Ron.

"Seriously, Hermione, you reek. How did that Auror training go?" asked Harry, returning to his seat and wasting no time putting a forkful of scrambled eggs in his mouth.

"Good, I guess," said Hermione, digging into a bowl of cereal. "My mentor is named Megan Hewlett. She's nice, but really tough and ridiculously in shape. She basically made me run around all morning and then beat up a cloth dummy for over an hour. The worst part by far is no magic – whatsoever."

"No magfick?" Ron turned to look at her in disbelief, his mouth bulging with fried egg. "Why not? Isn't the point of being an Auror that you're _really good _at magic?"

"Yeah, that's part of it too. But she told me that while I'm still at Hogwarts I have to participate in physical training only. I need to get my body ready before I can even start learning the magic that I'm going to need to use."

"Sounds hard," said Ron nonchalantly, while continually stuffing his face.

"Yeah, it is," said Hermione. "You should try it sometime."

"No way," said Ron. "Harry and I just spent a year roaming around the countryside on the most impossible mission known to wizarding history, and defeated the most evil wizard in the universe. I'd like to see your Aurors do that."

"Ron, they do that! Every single day. Seriously, I can't believe you both aren't going to be Aurors with me like we planned. Harry, I thought you were really into the idea."

"I dunno, Hermione," said Harry, studying his plate. "I've already died more times than I planned on this year."

"Nice one Harry," said Ron, holding out his hand for a high five.

"Boys," scoffed Hermione. "So lazy and weak."

"Ha!" replied Ron. "I've been kicking Ginny's ass for years, yours would be no problem. OWW!" He turned suddenly as his ear got twisted away from the table. Hermione and Harry turned to see Ginny walking behind them, carrying her breakfast dishes.

"I didn't know she was behind me," grumbled Ron, rubbing his ear.

"Morning guys," said Ginny, pecking Harry on the cheek. Ever since Voldemort's defeat, Harry and Ginny had resumed their relationship. They had recovered happily together, finally basking in the luxury they had never been afforded throughout the entirety of their teenage relationship: time.

"So Hermione, how's the whole rooming with Malfoy thing going?" The boys had filled Ginny in on their encounter with Malfoy the previous night – not so much filled in as given her an earful as to exactly what they thought of the situation.

"Oh! I completely forgot to tell you. After you all left, I raged at him for a bit, telling him we had to work together this year and he couldn't off and threaten my friends every time they walked in my room. And then the strangest thing happened – he sat down and basically told me he didn't want any trouble with us this year. That he was here to make good grades and graduate, and that he wouldn't start anything with us if we didn't start in on him. Isn't that odd?"

"Doesn't sound like the Malfoy I know," muttered Ron.

"Maybe he feels targeted," shrugged Ginny. "I mean, look around." She gestured towards the Slytherin table. "This year the Slytherins are basically pariahs. Only about half of them returned. Those who are here that had Death Eaters as parents basically only have each other as support. He might just be trying to establish solid ground with you all so he doesn't have to watch his back constantly. It seems like this year the Slytherins are going to need all the friends they can get."

"I never thought of it like that, Ginny." Hermione gazed at the small table of Slytherins, sitting together mostly in glum silence. "It's going to be so different around here this year."

"Well as long as Malfoy stays out of our business, that's one change I can get behind," said Harry.

"'Ear, 'ear," said Ron, clinking his orange juice glass against Harry's. Hermione and Ginny shot a glance at each other, rolling their eyes.

"Hey, do you all want to do anything fun today?" asked Ginny. "We could all go down to the lake and go swimming or something."

"Yeah, I'm in," said Harry. "Hermione, you don't have any more Auror training today, do you?"

"Umm I don't think so…minus the constant stretching and limbering up, but swimming should be great for that," Hermione said wryly. "Looks like all I'm going to be doing this year is exercising."

"Oh c'mon, Hermione, life can't always be all fun and libraries," said Ron, jumping out of his seat before Hermione could pinch him. "Last one in the lake is a rotten egg!" he yelled, jogging out of the dining room.

"Yeah, you'd better get a head start before I catch you," Hermione called out after him. She turned to face Harry and Ginny.

"Right now I couldn't catch him if a raging hippogriff was chasing me towards him," she groaned, and dropped her head on the table.

"Ron! Shhhhhh," Hermione giggled as they climbed the stairs together towards Head Tower. They had spent the rest of the morning swimming in the lake with Ginny and Harry, horsing around and dunking each other. They were currently sneaking back up to Hermione's room in their swimming trunks. Ron stood behind Hermione and wrapped his arms around her waist, playfully gnawing on her neck as she giggled against his mouth's touch.

"Ron, we have to be quiet, I don't know where Malfoy is!" she half whispered, pulling him closer against her back as they stumbled towards the portrait hole.

"Conjuntus…" she whispered, and the red dragon eyed them sleepily from its afternoon nap as it swung forward to let them in.

"Wait here," Hermione said to Ron, motioning for him to remain outside in the hall as she stepped inside. "Malfoy? Are you there? Anyone?" She stepped inside the common chamber and scanned the room warily for signs of Malfoy or any other guests. Upon seeing no one, she motioned Ron in from the corridor and grabbed his hand, pulling them into her bedroom.

Ron shut the door behind them and immediately devoured her mouth with his, covering it entirely with hungry, passionate kisses. Hermione responded, surprised but excited by his intensity. While they had been alone together at the Weasleys' house, the atmosphere had been constantly polluted by an aura of sadness. They had never quite been able to bring themselves to take their relationship to the next level, physically. It wouldn't have felt right as their first time together. However, it seemed things were quite different today.

Ron backed her up against her bed, laying her down softly while continuing to cover her mouth with his. She nipped his lip softly and he mock growled. She giggled in response.

He moved his lips down to her neck and sucked gently, toying with the back of her wet swimsuit. She arched into him, already impatient to move to the next step faster. She wound her hands in his wet hair and pushed his head further down her body into her chest. He grinned at her as he quickly untied her swimsuit top and pulled it loose, allowing her small breasts to spring free. He quickly cupped the right one and flicked his tongue over it rapidly, causing her to moan softly. She thrust her body against him, signaling the impatience she had felt over the last few months.

Hermione hooked her thumbs under the strings of her bathing suit bottom and pulled it over her legs, tossing it carelessly off the bed before grabbing Ron's face and pulling him towards her, kissing him long and slow and deep.

He leaned over her, gently sucking on her bottom lip and she removed his suit, leaving them both bare and pressed against each other. He pressed his forehead against hers and looked into her eyes. "Yeah?"

She nodded, biting her lip nervously. He moved into her slowly, and she only felt pain. He kissed her forehead softly, reminding her that it was just him. As he stroked in her, he kissed more strongly and more desperately. Hermione began to feel more comfortable, and she bucked her hips against Ron, bringing them closer together. As he moved faster she wrapped her legs around his back, running her hands up and down his back.

He came with a loud grunt, and Hermione shifted under him, taking in the new experience. Ron leaned over her, panting, and Hermione just looked at him, playing with the sweaty hair in front of his face. He finally rolled off of her and lay down next to her, looking at her drunkenly through loving eyes.

"Hey," he said, giving her a languid kiss on the lips.

"Hey," she whispered. "Sleep with me." He replied by nuzzling closer to her neck and kissing her lightly on the shoulder, resting his head against her. She turned towards him and closed her eyes, running her nails lightly down his back as he fell asleep. A smile started on her bottom lip and spread to the corners of her cheeks as she drifted off. She was finally welcoming joy back into her life.


	2. Chapter 2

Hermione awoke to Ron gently kissing her neck and shoulders. They had shifted in their sleep to a spooning position, and he had wrapped his arms around her protectively. The sun shone in through the window of Hermione's bedroom, its rays turning the first afternoon tint of orange.

"Mmm, that feels nice," Hermione mumbled sleepily, turning to face Ron. She cupped his face in her hand and he smiled at her.

"Good afternoon," he said, taking her hand and kissing it gently.

"It feels so late," she said. "I wonder what time it is."

"Dunno," he yawned, pushing off of the bed and rising to sit on the edge, running his hands through his hair. He got up and started putting his swimming trunks on as Hermione watched him from the bed lazily.

"I can't believe we came up here in just our swimsuits," he said, glancing at her with a wry smile. "I'm gonna have to walk back to the common room bare chested."

"Here," she said, rising out of the bed naked. "I think I have some of your shirts from this summer." She walked over to her dresser and rifled through it, pulling out an old white t-shirt that belonged to him. Ron walked over and grabbed it from her, pulling her into him and kissing her gently while subtly cupping her ass. Hermione giggled against his lips and pulled away to sit on the edge of the bed.

"I'm gonna go to the Gryffindor common room before dinner to see what Harry's up to," said Ron, pulling the shirt over his head. "You wanna stop by?"

Hermione nodded. "I'm going to hang out here for a bit, but I'll stop by before dinner."

"Ok, I'll see you soon." Ron put a finger under her chin and lifted her lips to meet his, kissing her softly three times. "Bye."

"Bye," Hermione whispered back, watching him leave the room. She leaned back on the bed, still undressed, running her hands over her body. She wondered if everything would feel different now that she was no longer a virgin.

She looked down the length of her body. Her hipbones stuck out a minimal amount, and she lightly skimmed them, relishing the sharpness of the bone against her hands. She put her feet up on the bed, making her legs into small mountains as she relaxed her head and stared up at a crack in the ceiling over her bed. She didn't feel any different while alone in her room. Maybe it would hit her later when she was least expecting it.

She turned to the side and pulled a book out from under her bed that she had kept hidden since her sixth year. The front read "The Witch's Ultimate Guide to Painless Birth Control." Hermione flipped through the pages to find one that had been dog-eared and read many times. She skimmed the writing on the page and set the book on the bed, grabbing her wand. She pointed the wand at her abdomen and murmured a charm softly, moving the wand in tiny circles. She felt a slight twinge and looked down at her belly, satisfied that it had worked. She closed the book and shoved it far under her bed.

Hermione rolled off her bed and walked to her dresser, picking out a shirt and cotton shorts to wear. She stopped in front of her mirror on the way back, examining her body. She hadn't really looked at herself in detail since well before the war. The summer spent cooped up with the Weasleys showed on her body – several extra pounds seemed to just sit on top of her frame, out of place, like they didn't belong there. Hermione stared for a few seconds longer, then shrugged and pulled her clothes on over her head. She grabbed a brush and ran it through her hair quickly, then tossed it on her bed and exited into the common chamber.

He was sitting at the table when she entered, reading a spell book. Hermione stopped short in the doorway, mouth agape. He must have seen Ron leave – he could have even been there earlier and heard them together in her room. She set her mouth defiantly and locked eyes with him as he glanced up at her.

"So? I bet you've had tons of girls over to your room before," Hermione said, trying to appear bored as she set her lips in a firm line and leaned against the doorpost.

"I wasn't judging you, Granger, and I didn't hear what you and Weasley were doing in there, but thanks for erasing any doubt from my mind," Malfoy drawled, returning his eyes to his spell book.

Hermione folded her eyes over her chest and glared. "What are you doing out here anyways? I've barely seen you leave your room."

"Studying, Granger. In case you've forgotten, school starts in less than a week. And since my social life will be drastically diminished this year, I might as well spend my time studying so I can beat you in grades this year."

"I'd like to see you try. You haven't even come close to beating me once over the last six years."

"Well, we'll see about that. People change," said Malfoy, shooting her a sarcastic smile. "Plus if you keep spending all your time with Weasley, it'll just make it easier for me."

Hermione huffed loudly. "Malfoy, will you please just shut up about me and Ron? I don't like that you get to see us interact, much less that you talk about it."

Malfoy turned a page deliberately, then looked up to meet Hermione's gaze. "Why do you like him so much?"

"Grow up, Malfoy, I'm not playing your mind games with you. We're seventeen."

"No, I'm serious. I've never had a real relationship before. I just wondered what you liked about him."

Hermione looked into his grey eyes and softened slightly. Something in them (honesty, perhaps?) made her trust him, and she decided to answer his question candidly.

"I don't know. There are a lot of great things that I like about him. He's my best friend, and I can tell him anything. I'm really comfortable around him."

"How does that make your relationship special? Anyone can be best friends if they spend enough time together," replied Malfoy, looking at her searchingly.

"Malfoy, that is inherently untrue. Look at you and me – we're going to be spending tons of time together this year in here and I _highly _doubt we will end up best friends," Hermione retorted, her hands on her hips.

"Probably." Malfoy looked back at her, his eyes dark.

Hermione stared at him for a long moment. "I can't believe I took that question seriously enough to give you an honest answer. You're impossible," she said, throwing her hands up and turning into her room. She shut the door with enough force to make her frustration apparent to Malfoy.

Malfoy stared after her as she left the room and shrugged. He thought he was right.

Hermione paced around her room angrily, fuming at Malfoy. She should have known better than to try to talk openly with him – he wasn't making an effort to start over with her, he was just trying to get under her skin. She resolved to do her best to ignore him for the rest of the year. She pulled out some of her schoolbooks from under her bed and began reading to calm herself down.

Hermione ran softly behind Megan, listening to the sound their footsteps made as they fell lightly on the pine needle covered ground in the wooded area. She had arisen before six o' clock to meet Megan in front of the Hogwarts castle. The two had taken off running across the Hogwarts grounds. As they ran, Megan continued asking Hermione detailed questions about their surroundings. Hermione got all of them wrong, but she was beginning to get a sense of what was important to notice. Her ponytail brushed softly against the back of her neck as she shook her head to fling off the sweat clinging to the tendrils of hair framing her face.

Megan slowed down in front of her as they reached a clearing with several large flat rocks. "Ok, I think we'll stop here for today. Great job, Hermione! You're a natural runner. I think you'll get into shape very quickly." Megan pulled her wand out from her shorts and picked up a branch, quickly transfiguring it into a makeshift cup.

Hermione gasped in mock shock as she sat on a nearby rock. "You brought your wand? This is the non-magical part of my training," she joked.

"Well, if you want to go thirsty…" Megan shrugged, pretending to throw the cup over her shoulder as Hermione's expression instantly turned to horrified. "I thought not," Megan grinned wickedly. "Aguamenti." The cup filled with cool water, and she handed it to Hermione, who drank it greedily.

Megan sat next to Hermione on the flat rock. "I know it's only the second day of your training, but you're doing really well. How are you feeling so far?"

Hermione took the cup away from her mouth and turned her head to look at her mentor. "I like it. However, I have to be honest – I haven't really felt any changes like you and Headmaster McGonagall were telling me I would."

Megan looked off into the distance. "You will. Those changes take a while to set in, definitely. But I don't know a single Auror who hasn't said that being an Auror changed them, personally."

"Megan? Remember how you were saying that it's very rare for anyone to make it through Auror training? Do you think I'll be one of the ones that does?"

Megan stood up and turned to face Hermione. "Honestly, no one is a given, but I'd be pretty surprised if you didn't finish. You came into this with a very impressive background: all the Horcrux hunting you did last year was similar to the missions Aurors attempt all the time – and we have a much higher failure rate than you did! That experience gives you a considerable advantage at thinking on your feet and recognizing danger. I'd give you a really high chance of successfully completing the training – which is one of the reasons I was so excited to find out you would be my student."

"Wait, you didn't get to pick who you would mentor?"

"Not really. The youngest Aurors generally mentor the Aurors-in-training from their own wizarding school, which is how I got you – I went to Hogwarts. They stay as their mentor until either the Auror-in-training drops out or finishes the training. You mentor new wizards every year until one of yours makes it through training successfully, and then they stay as your permanent mentor."

"You went to Hogwarts?" Hermione asked, surprised. "How old are you?"

"I'm twenty-five. I graduated from Hogwarts the year before you started. It's a shame, really. It would have been great to have seen you and your friends in school. The whole Academy has been talking about you, Harry, and Ron for years, wondering whether or not any of you would become Aurors." Megan climbed up on a felled log and walked across it, using her arms to balance herself.

"So then, who is your mentor?"

"Kingsley." Megan grinned when Hermione's eyes widened. "I bet you didn't expect to know who it was."

"Yeah. Also, he's so old!"

"Well, I had a different mentor when I first entered training, but he died a few years back." Megan didn't meet Hermione's eyes. "So Kingsley stepped in to replace him, and he's been a great mentor."

Hermione was curious to find out more about Megan's previous mentor, but she didn't want to seem too prying, especially since they had just met. "Does Kingsley still teach you, then?"

"Somewhat. Once you finish your first few years of training and become an active-duty Auror, your mentor becomes less of a teacher and more of a partner. Kingsley makes a great mentor because he's very tough and he pushes me. Which means, unfortunately for you, I learned from him how to be tough on my mentors. That brings me to the next part of our workout for today: fighting!" Megan jumped off the log and turned to face Hermione. "That's enough of a break, right? Let's see how much you remember from yesterday."

Megan pulled Hermione off the rock and into the middle of the clearing. "All right, let's start with punches. Show me your jab." Megan held out her hand in front of her like a stop signal, motioning for Hermione to hit it.

Hermione stared at her outstretched hand. "Megan, I don't want to hurt you."

Megan laughed. "Hermione, don't worry. It's not going to hurt. Go ahead."

"Seriously, I don't want to hit you! What if it's too hard?"

Megan turned and quickly walked over to a nearby sapling tree. She looked it up and down and then suddenly hit it with the side of her hand, felling it in a clean chop. Hermione stared with her mouth agape as Megan walked back towards her grinning.

"See? You won't hurt me, I promise. Now practice your jabs!"

Hermione began punching her hand quickly, alternating between her right and left hand.

"Hermione? Have you ever seen a Muggle boxer?"

"Yes," Hermione replied, still punching.

"So you've seen how they move their feet before? Kind of like they're constantly skipping rope?" Megan demonstrated, shifting her weight lightly from one foot to the other. "Try doing that while you punch. The extra movement will give you more power in your hits, and it will keep your feet from becoming rooted, which will be good for later lessons when you'll have to learn how to duck."

Hermione pulled her fists up in front of her body and tentatively tried to copy the quick hopping motion Megan had exhibited. Once she had found a rhythm, Megan extended her hand again. Hermione punched it soundly, hearing the loud pop of her skin bouncing off of Megan's.

"Good, Hermione!" Megan cried. "See how much stronger it makes you? Now try to hit me even harder."

Hermione focused her energy on making her hits direct and forceful. Sweat dripped down her back as she punched harder, dancing lightly on her feet.

The morning sun rose higher in the sky, illuminating the trees on the Hogwarts grounds and the two young girls as they fought in the meadow.

Hermione stole into the Great Hall for breakfast after her training with Megan, physically exhausted but mentally stimulated. She wove her way through the other students until she found the Gryffindor table.

Ron whistled at her as she approached. Hermione had elected to dress more like Megan after their first training session, and she sported a sports bra and tight spandex shorts. Her midriff was still slick with sweat from the morning training session.

"Hey, if this Auror training thing means you coming to breakfast every morning half naked, I could really get behind it," said Ron as Hermione climbed over the bench next to him. "On second thought, maybe not…" Ron frowned as his eyes fixed on Malfoy, who was watching Hermione from several tables away. Malfoy's eyes caught Ron's, and he averted his gaze.

"Don't mind him, he's probably just already horny since he won't be getting any for the rest of his life," Hermione joked, kissing Ron on the cheek as Harry and Ginny laughed.

"I thought you were gonna come down and hang out with us in the common room last night," Ron pouted. "What happened?"

"Oh, right," scowled Hermione. "I meant to – I stepped out of my room but ran into Malfoy in the common chamber. We kind of had a little spat, and then I was too angry to leave. I just stayed in my room and read spell books for the rest of the night."

"What did you fight about?" asked Ron.

"Oh, nothing really. Mostly grades," Hermione lied, looking down at her hands. "He was going on about how he's going to study much more this year and finally get ahead of me in school."

Ron and Harry snorted in unison.

"Don't even listen to him – he's clearly just trying to get a rise out of you. He hasn't even come close to matching you over the past six years. By the way, you missed the big news at Gryffindor last night," Ginny continued excitedly. "Lavender Brown came back last night."

"So?" asked Hermione.

"So look at her!" exclaimed Ginny. Hermione leaned over the table and looked to the side, trying to see Lavender.

"I don't see her."

"Yes you do. She's sitting right next to Parvati, to her left."

Hermione's eyes widened. "THAT'S Lavender Brown?" Hermione hadn't seen her fellow Gryffindor seventh year since the end of the war. The girl's appearance had changed greatly. She seemed to have grown almost an inch and was no longer dumpy, but rather slender and graceful. Her hair had lost its frizzy quality and was now a sleek light blond, falling elegantly over her shoulders. Hermione noticed she was also wearing light makeup, and she moved with confidence. Her friends were not the only ones that noticed her transformation – the other Gryffindor boys sat across from her, apparently immensely interested in her detailing of her most recent shopping trip to Parvati.

"I know, she really grew up over the last few months, didn't she?" said Ginny.

"Yeah, Ron would never be able to get her now…I mean, because he has you, of course," Harry added hastily, as Hermione shot him a withering glare. "He wouldn't want to get her. How was training this morning?" Harry changed the topic, burying his face in his cereal.

"Good. Megan's really cool – she's so intense though, it's kind of scary. Oh, you guys will get to meet her by the way. She's going to be our new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher."

"She is?" Ginny asked, surprised. "I thought you said she was really young, like early twenties."

"Yeah, she's twenty five. It's just an interim thing. Apparently they haven't been able to find a permanent teacher for the position, so she and possibly some other Aurors are going to fill in this year until they find a full time teacher. Anyway, I think she will make a really good teacher. She's really relatable."

"It'll be nice to finally have a female DADA teacher," Ginny said while nibbling on a carrot.

"What, Umbridge doesn't count?" Ron joked.

"Ugh!" exclaimed Ginny and Hermione together. "She really shouldn't count," said Ginny.

"You'll really like Megan," Hermione told Ginny. "She's nothing like Umbridge, I swear."

"Well that's a relief," said Ginny. "Hey Hermione, want to come with me to Hogsmeade today? I need to pick up some spell books that I forgot to get this summer. It might be fun to get off the grounds for a bit."

"Yeah, I'd like to come. Ron? Harry? Are you going?"

"Shopping with two girls? No way, I want to be back in time for dinner," Harry joked. Ginny rolled her eyes beside him.

"Luckily I didn't ask either of you."

"Come with me back to my room," said Hermione. "I need to change if we're going to go." The two girls headed off to Head Tower as Ron and Harry stayed behind to finish their breakfast.

"Hermione," said Ginny as they walked off, "how is it really, living with Malfoy? Are you okay with it?"

"Well, it's not like I enjoy it, but there's nothing I can do, really. He's Head Boy, and he apparently earned the spot. I don't really have any say about who they appoint as my partner."

"Yes, but…aren't you a bit frightened? I know I would be if I lived so close to him."

"Oh Ginny," Hermione sighed. "Ron, Harry and I have had to deal with Malfoy since our first year. If there's one thing we've learned about him since then, it's that he's all bark and no bite. I know he can seem scary, but he really just likes acting that way. He doesn't frighten me."

"Do you think he became a Death Eater?"

Hermione shook her head. "I don't think so. I've never seen the mark on his arm. And from what he told me when we got back, he wasn't in any trouble with the Ministry after the war. I think the official Ministry position is that his family was coerced into aiding Voldemort, although I doubt that's the whole truth," Hermione snorted.

"Do you think he's changed?"

"No. Not to his core, at least. He may seem more modest, but I bet it's all just an act."

"Maybe this year will change him, then."

Hermione paused. "Maybe," she agreed. The two girls fell silent as they climbed the rest of the stairs up towards Head Tower.

The rest of the week at Hogwarts passed smoothly, if uneventfully. Hermione was progressing quickly in her physical training with Megan. She was pleased with her accomplishments, and Megan was even more so.

She hadn't seen much of Malfoy since their run-in in the common room. She suspected he was avoiding her, which was fine with her. The few times they had bumped into each other in their common area, they had both been civil to each other – Hermione took it as an attempt on his part to apologize for offending her the other night. She hadn't been spending much of her time in their room, anyway.

Hermione was beginning to enjoy spending a lot of her time outside. Most days she would take a walk around the lake's edge and sit with her feet in the water, mulling over her thoughts as she stared out across the water's flat surface. She was starting to depend on magic less. Last year she would have felt that going out anywhere without her wand was tantamount to suicide; this year she already noticed herself leaving her wand in her room more and more.

She treasured the last few days of summer that she spent with Ron, Harry, and Ginny. They rarely had so much time at Hogwarts before school started. The four of them spent the time together practicing Quidditch, swimming in the lake, and reading outside in the dying summer sun.

The Sunday before classes came much too soon. Hermione woke early and put on training clothes to go work out with Megan. They often started before six, stretching the training sessions longer and longer.

She met Megan in front of the castle, and the two took off on their morning jog. Hermione stayed a few feet behind Megan, watching her long brown ponytail swish behind her as she ran. Megan continued to throw out questions about their surroundings to their Hermione throughout the run.

"Hermione, feel the ground with your feet," she called out behind her. "See how soft it feels and how much give there is. How many hours has it been since it last rained?"

Hermione concentrated on her footsteps bouncing off of the dirt. "About five?"

"Yes! Good. It rained at one o' clock last night. Knowing the consistency of the ground is important when either checking for footsteps or making sure you don't leave any of your own, which could give away your position. Nice job!"

Hermione beamed behind her. It was her first correct answer – a small victory, but a big deal to her nonetheless. Every day she was getting better.

Megan started to slow after they had gone about five miles. Hermione followed suit, dropping to a walk with her hands on her hips. The girls walked in silence for a few minutes, catching their breath.

"Hermione, you're getting much better at noticing your surroundings. Do you feel it?" Megan asked, looking at Hermione as she walked beside her.

"Yeah…I think so," said Hermione between breaths. "It's still hard to pick up on all the things you notice though."

"You will start – you already have, a little bit. Remember, I've been trained to think this way for the last eight years. You've had less than eight days, and you're already doing quite well. Stretch."

Hermione bent over and touched the ground, lengthening her calf muscle as she leaned back. The morning sun evaporated the heat off from her hair, curling in a delicate steam as it rose from her head.

"So, are you excited to have me as your teacher tomorrow morning?" Megan joked as she stretched her right arm.

"Yeah, you know, I feel like we never get to see each other anymore," Hermione kidded, looking up at her mentor.

"You'll probably be the first Auror-in-training who drops out to get some free time away from their mentor," said Megan, twisting her upper body. The two girls were becoming fast friends. Hermione felt comfortable during her morning exercises with Megan, and she often talked to the older woman freely. Still, Hermione didn't feel confident enough to ask Megan what had happened to her former mentor. She vowed to ask her that question further down the road.

"Okay Hermione, today is going to be a much tougher day, physically. My other student is going to meet up with us here in about an hour, and then I'll begin training you two together. But before that, we're going to work on your fighting a little bit. Today, you're going to start off by fighting me."

Hermione laughed loudly. "Very funny, Megan."

"I'm serious!"

"That's bloody ridiculous, you know you could kick my ass with one hand behind your back."

"I'm going to be defending against you. You'll be using all the punches, kicks, and different maneuvers you know, trying to land a hit on me. I'll be defending myself against you and trying to avoid everything you throw."

"There's no way I'm going to land anything."

"You never know. You have to start somewhere." Megan walked out to the middle of the field and stood waiting, her hands on her hips. "You ready?"

"I guess," Hermione muttered, and walked towards her. She put her fists up and started moving her feet as Megan readied herself in a defensive stance. Hermione started by throwing a hook with her right arm. Megan blocked it with her left arm. Hermione threw a jab on the left side. Blocked again. She swung around and aimed at Megan with a sidekick, which Megan easily blocked using her leg.

"Fighting is creative, Hermione," Megan called out as Hermione continued to try to land a hit. "You're going to have to catch me off guard if you're going to land a punch. If you stay too predictable, I'm going to be able to block you every time."

Hermione nodded and whirled around to try to catch Megan with a left hook, but she was blocked. She brought her knee up to strike, but again Megan rejected her hit.

"You have to move quicker than you are. I can see you thinking and I can see you start to move. It's too easy for me to react to you."

Hermione tried to speed up her movements, but the whole process was exhausting. Her body ached and her mind was working at full speed to think about what move to make next – she tried to imagine what Megan thought she would do, and then perform the exact opposite move. However, try as she might, she couldn't land a hit.

Megan seemed to sense her frustration and tried to encourage her. "You're getting better, Hermione. Your movements are becoming quicker. Try not to think so much, just feel it." The two girls continued sparring for a while until Hermione tried to surprise Megan by throwing first a right hook and then a left uppercut. Megan grabbed both of her arms by the wrists and spun her around, twisting her arms behind her. Hermione struggled, surprised.

"This is a defensive maneuver often used to end the fight," Megan said, holding Hermione's arms more gently. "You'll end up trying to use it a lot during sparring." She released Hermione's arms, and Hermione turned around, panting.

"This is impossible," she said.

"You're not doing badly," said Megan. "It's going to take you a while to get used to it, though. It'll be easier when you're fighting against another student instead of a fully trained Auror. Speaking of which, here he comes now." Megan pointed off into the woods where a tall young man was barely visible, jogging towards them through the remaining morning mist. As he approached, Hermione had to blink her eyes rapidly to make sure she was seeing things correctly. But there was only one boy with that lithe, lanky figure and that mop of platinum blonde hair.

"You have GOT to be kidding me."


	3. Chapter 3

"Him?" Hermione stepped away from Megan and pointed at Malfoy, who had just jogged up beside them, with a disgusted look on her face. "HIM? He is your other student? YOUR OTHER STUDENT IS DRACO MALFOY?"

"Obviously, Granger. For the smartest witch in your year you sure can be a dumb ass sometimes," said Malfoy.

"Megan, you clearly don't know Draco Malfoy. Because if you did, there is no possible way you would agree to train him to be an Auror."

"Hermione," Megan began gently. "Clearly you have some personal issues with Draco. However, I promise you he is fully qualified to undergo Auror training. I wouldn't have accepted him otherwise."

"He tried to kill Dumbledore last year! His father is a Death Eater!"

"Granger, will you just lay off my family for one sodding moment," bellowed Malfoy. "You don't know the first thing about me or anyone in my family."

"I know enough," snapped Hermione, turning to face him. "I know you planned to kill Dumbledore last year. What kind of Auror does that? Aurors are supposed to want to protect other wizards, not spend all year plotting to kill them. Aurors work against wizards like you."

"Well since you're so bloody smart, I reckon you know that I didn't actually kill him," Malfoy replied, his voice dripping menacingly with sarcasm. He circled around her slowly. "You think you have every right to judge, because you were on the winning side; you think the rest of us are scum and deserve to be thrown in Azkaban for the rest of our lives. Well let me tell you, little Gryffindor princess, you had it easy during the war. You wouldn't be able to understand the first bit of what I went through."

"Oh yeah, trying to fuck up our plans and torturing Muggle-borns must have been really awful for you," Hermione spat out.

"That's just what I'm saying," Malfoy hissed at her. "You can't understand and you refuse to open your mind for just one second to hear why I would want to become an Auror. You're just as bad as the Death Eaters you condemn – instead of your prejudice being against blood impurity, your prejudice is against those on the losing side of the war. You don't think we deserve the same quality of life as you – the pure, the innocent, the victorious," Malfoy sneered.

"Oh stop trying to vilify me, Malfoy," Hermione snapped. "It's incredible that you're trying to make me feel bad for judging you when last year you tried to kill Dumbledore, tried to kill Harry, Ron and me in the Room of Requirement, and spent all year playing lap dog to Voldemort in your home where he tortured and killed people. What in the world makes you think that you possibly deserve a fresh start? There's a reason your dark mark is forever – you can't just erase your past deeds and pretend they never happened."

"All this is easy for you to say, coming into this world with no expectations, no family to protect, no one to influence your decisions besides yourself," Malfoy shot back. "You know how many nights last year I laid in bed and WISHED I had it easy like you and Potter? You both got to come into this with no family to protect, no death threats over your heads…"

"No death threats?" shrieked Hermione. "Harry's entire life was one huge death threat. You know how many times we almost died last year trying to escape Voldemort's henchmen, who your family willingly hosted?"

"Yes, it's rather unfortunate that you had some close encounters with a few inept death eaters, while luckily I was cooped up in my house with the most powerful wizard in wizarding history who tried to off me by forcing me to attempt to kill Dumbledore. My life was all peaches and cream to you last year, wasn't it? I was just reveling in my evil little heaven, licking the bottom of Voldemort's robes while he crawled around my childhood home. I never intend to explain my reasons for becoming an Auror to you; I wouldn't want to lower myself to the task. However, they're good enough for Megan, which means they should be good enough for you."

They both turned, finally realizing that Megan was standing behind them. She was standing with her arms crossed, staring at them coolly. "Are you two finished?" she asked, her voice dangerously low. Hermione and Draco stared at her. "Because that was the biggest waste of my time that I could have imagined. I don't care if you two have personal issues with each other – you are here to learn from me together. To lose your heads and tempers like that in front of me is incredibly disrespectful and rude. I know I'm not much older than you and I seem like I'm just here to be your friend, but disrespect me like that again and I will drop you from Auror training faster than you can apologize. Seeing as you are both seventh years, I expected you both to have a little more maturity. Feel however you want about each other on your personal time, but when you are with me, you will respect each other."

"Hermione," she turned to the girl, "I am upset that you do not trust my judgment about Draco. I have eight years of experience under my belt – you just started Auror training one week ago. I think I have a better idea of whether or not he is suitable for Auror training than you do. If you yell at me again in that disrespectful manner, there will be consequences."

"And Draco. There really isn't any justifying your actions last year to the wizarding community, and you need to learn to admit that you made some huge mistakes. There is always room to move past them, but no excuse to try to validate them. By taking you on as my mentor, I am sticking my neck out in the wizarding community. Do not disappoint me."

"I know you both had a turbulent and disruptive year, and it may have perverted your views of your professors as authority figures. Believe me, I understand what it's like to realize your teachers aren't infallible. But this year, it's back to reality. I am your mentor and your professor, and I deserve to be respected as such. As your mentor, I am here to help you with your personal life as well as your professional life, but I don't want to hear literally one more second of your bickering about some petty childhood feud. Understood?"

"Yes. Sorry, Megan." Hermione looked down at the ground, her face ashamedly turning a light pink.

"Sorry." Draco looked away, his expression slightly shell shocked.

"Don't apologize. You are going to work your asses off this session to make up for all the time we wasted. And one more thing: from now on you are to address each other by first names only. I won't have this childish fight continuing on my time."

"Okay, we're going to go ahead and start with sparring. You each have only fought against me, so you're going to notice some differences fighting against each other. I only used defensive stances against you, but when fighting against each other you are going to be forced to constantly switch between offensive and defensive stances. Your defensive stance won't be very well developed yet – just try to read each other's moves before the strike. You will also have to adjust to the size difference and skill level difference in your opponent. Above all, work as hard as you possibly can. If either of you are slacking off, I will run this session longer. I will literally miss our Defense Against the Dark Arts class to train you if it takes that long, so keep that in mind. Furthermore, do NOT be afraid to hit each other as hard as you possibly can. If you don't do it now, the others at the Academy will. And believe me, they will be able to hit a lot harder than either of you can. I'll have my wand out and I'll periodically heal each of you as you take hits. This will take some of the stinging away – it's not to baby you, but to ensure you train at maximum potential for the entirety of the session. Okay, go ahead and start."

Hermione leapt at Draco, putting her leg between his and forcing him to stumble backwards. He recovered and attempted to grab her wrists, but she whirled around out of his grasp and came back with a low hook, hitting him squarely in the ribs. Draco exhaled painfully and ducked away from her next blow, an uppercut on the opposite side. He caught her wrist and used it to balance himself as he attempted to kick her feet out from under her, but she predicted this move easily and jumped over his foot, landing strongly.

"Good read, Hermione," Megan called. "Draco, move more quickly so she can't get ahead of you."

Hermione used her advantage to slip her wrist from his and throw a right-handed jab. She missed his face but half-connected with his neck. Draco kneed her gut in retaliation and Hermione dropped to the ground in surprised pain.

"Good recovery, Draco. Hermione, I know it's very painful but you can't drop like that. Fight through it – if you get thrown off for a second your opponent has the chance to kill you." Megan pointed her wand at Hermione and she recovered.

Hermione stood up and slugged Draco as hard as she could in the side of the head. This time Draco fell to the ground.

"Solid hit, Hermione. Draco, you watched her come at you like you were frozen. Be more prepared." Megan healed Draco.

Draco made the first move, going for a body uppercut, but Hermione read him and blocked with her upper arm. Draco spun and went for a hook, but Hermione ducked and grabbed his wrist, retaliating with a low kick. Draco sidestepped her leg and pulled his wrist free, pushing her off of him and throwing his shoulder into her chest. She clumsily stepped around the blow so that it only glanced her, quickly recovering and wrapping her arm around her neck. However, he used his strength advantage to flip her around and catch her in a headlock. Hermione stomped on his foot and as he released her, she whirled out of his grasp.

"Don't give him the opportunity to use his weight like that, Hermione," yelled Megan.

They both came at each other at the same time and simultaneously blocked each other, their lower arms clashing against each other. Hermione's face was right next to Draco's and she could see him gritting his teeth in frustration. She ducked out of the bind and tried to land a punch on Draco's middle, which was blocked. He attempted next a hit on her head, which she ducked around.

The two continued sparring for over an hour, with Megan yelling instructions and sporadically healing them. Hermione had never felt so tired and utterly frustrated. As soon as she landed a hit, Draco would come back with a counter hit. Neither of them gained much of an edge for long, and defending against the constant blows was impossibly hard. The sweat streamed off her body and got in her eyes, making it hard to see Draco. She began punching blindly, landing a strike almost as much as she got hit. Finally Megan called time.

"Alright, that's good enough. You both worked hard." She conjured two towels and threw one to each of her students. Hermione hurriedly mopped her face while Draco threw his over his shoulder, apparently too tired to move much more.

"I know you are both exhausted, but this will get easier. You both have only had practice being on the offensive, which today meant you landed many more punches than you defended. Constantly getting hit was what tired you out so much. Eventually you both will be able to defend much more readily. Hermione, come here. I need to perform a spell that will prevent bruises from forming."

Megan moved her wand slowly over Hermione's face and body, murmuring a soft incantation. Hermione felt like a cold liquid was running through her body, and she shivered at the strange sensation.

"Draco, now you too." Megan performed the same action on Draco, and Hermione saw his eyes flutter closed with relief.

"Okay, I'll meet you both back here at the same time tomorrow. Let me know if you have any pain tonight so I can heal you before morning. You both worked hard today…you made up for your fighting earlier. I'll see you later."

Hermione and Draco nodded at Megan, and she walked away from them. They turned and walked back to Head Tower in dead silence – not out of anger, but rather from exhaustion and pure shock at all that had happened over the last hour.

When they reached Head Tower, Hermione walked straight to her room and closed the door, immediately lying down on her bed. She closed her eyes, and sleep washed over her almost automatically.

Hermione awoke later in the day, completely disoriented. She felt as if she had been sleeping for days – however, a glance out the window showed it to only be slightly past noon. She sat up in bed and squinted, looking out the window across the Hogwarts grounds.

She still felt dazed from that morning's training session. She had never had a teacher raise their voice to her in the six years she had attended Hogwarts, and furthermore, she had never felt so embarrassed for her behavior. She had thought she was in the right to be angry and mistrustful around Malfoy; however, she felt badly for disrespecting Megan. It was going to be hard to work with Malfoy as the other student. She would just have to focus on being civil – it was more of a matter of being respectful to Megan rather than being friendly to Malfoy.

Hermione got up and walked into the bathroom connected to the Head Tower chamber. Their bathroom was similar to the prefects' bathroom, but slightly smaller. It boasted a luxurious bathtub, complete with all designs of jets and bubble sprays. However, Hermione wasn't in the mood for a relaxing wash. She just wanted to leave her room and find Harry and Ron – she was in need of some reassurance. She opted to wash off in the smaller shower on the side of the bathroom.

Hermione quickly showered, feeling better as she washed the sweat and stickiness off of her body. She felt some of the upset and shame from the morning lifting off her shoulders, and by the time she stepped out and toweled off, her mood had lightened considerably.

She dressed in comfortable clothes quickly and headed towards the Gryffindor common room. "Novus," she whispered to the Fat Lady, and the portrait swung forward to let her through. She saw Ron and Harry sitting by the fireplace talking as she entered.

"Hey, there she is," said Ron, throwing his hand up. "Where've you been all day? Harry and I went everywhere looking for you."

Hermione gave him a quizzical look. "I slept in my room for four hours…where else would you possibly have looked?"

"Well, you know…the breakfast hall, the Gryffindor common room…Head Tower is awfully far," said Ron.

"You slept for four hours?" Harry asked. "How come?"

Hermione looked embarrassed. "Let's go somewhere more private to talk," she said, looking around at the various other Gryffindors in the common room.

"Sure, let's go to the bedroom," said Harry, giving her a curious look. The trio walked into Harry and Ron's bedroom, climbing into Harry's canopy bed and pulling the red curtains shut around them for privacy.

"I dunno, this whole morning was just shocking and kind of embarrassing for me," started Hermione, rubbing her hands over her face. "So first off, you know how I told you that there was another Auror student that I would have to work with?"

"Yeah," said Ron.

"Turns out it's Malfoy."

"Malfoy? Bloody hell, the Ministry must have gone crazy if they're letting him train to be an Auror."

"I know, that's what I thought. So anyway, he walks up to us and I'm practically speechless over his presence. But unfortunately, I found words. I started yelling at Megan for allowing Malfoy to train with me and then he started yelling back at me. We basically stood there insulting each other for about five minutes while Megan watched."

"Sounds about right," said Ron.

"Anyways, when we stopped, Megan was furious. She lectured us, calling me disrespectful and rude and telling Malfoy he was wrong to try to justify his past actions. She basically told us to end our fighting or else she would drop both of us as her students."

Harry whistled lowly and Ron stared at her in shock. "_You _got chewed out by a teacher? Wow, she sounds like a hard ass," said Ron.

"That's why it was so surprising – she seemed so mild-mannered at first. But it worked. She made me feel really guilty for fighting him in front of her. I was literally so embarrassed I could barely talk for the rest of the session. Then she made us fight each other for over an hour. At the end I felt like I was going to pass out from the mixture of exhaustion and shock."

"She made you fight a boy?" Harry asked, frowning. "That sounds kind of messed up."

"If I'm going to be an Auror, I'm going to have to be able to fight anyone. It's better that I'm training against a boy: it will make me stronger. Plus Megan stands right next to us with her wand ready. If one of us gets hit, she charms us to remove the pain almost immediately. It's really not bad," she said quickly, trying to reassure both of them.

"Did he hurt you?" asked Harry.

"No, not really," said Hermione. "Neither of us can really punch well enough to do serious damage yet. Megan removed any pain before it had the chance to set in."

"I can't believe that happened this morning. If I had found out I had to train with Malfoy I wouldn't have even wasted time yelling at him; I would have just gone and given him a bloody nose without warning," said Ron.

"Well, it helped that I got to try to hit him for about an hour afterwards."

"Maybe I'll take up Auror training," joked Harry. "Using Malfoy as a permanent punching bag would have its perks."

Hermione groaned and threw herself back on the bed. "You guys, I don't know what I'm going to do! I don't know how I can spend that much time with him every day without going insane. I really don't want to lose my cool in front of Megan again – that was one of the most embarrassing moments of my life. I don't know how I'm going to face both of them tomorrow."

"Cmon, Hermione," said Ron, lying down next to her. "I know it seems embarrassing, but I bet Megan understands. No one's perfect – everyone loses their temper at some point. Just work your ass off tomorrow, kick Malfoy's ass at training, and Megan will go back to thinking you smell like roses. There's no way a teacher could possibly hate you. There's like some magical law or something against having a grudge against the Head Girl."

"Hermione, I agree. She's not going to hold this against you forever. Just keep working hard and don't fight with Malfoy again, and she'll be happy with you," said Harry. Ron rubbed her arm supportively.

"Ugh. You guys are right. I know it will blow over in a few days, it's just the waiting part that sucks," Hermione said, covering her eyes with her hands.

"Hey," Ron shook her shoulder gently. "You know what would make you feel better?" Hermione turned her head to look at him. "If we went to Hogsmeade to get ice cream."

Hermione laughed. "Oh to be so lucky as to be able to eat away my emotions like you, Ron."

"Worth a shot," Ron grinned at Harry. "Let's go anyways!"

The trio got off the bed and headed out of the boys' bedroom. "It's the last day before classes start," explained Ron. "It's my last chance to bulk up."

"Your stomach, maybe."

"Shut up."

Hermione had a dreading feeling in her stomach as she woke early Monday morning. She and Malfoy were scheduled to train with Megan that morning before classes, but she was still feeling uncomfortable from the events of the day prior. She had managed to completely avoid Malfoy for the rest of the day after their morning workout – only returning to Head Tower at the very end of the day and passing quickly through the common chamber straight to her bedroom. She wasn't looking forward to spending the next two hours with him.

She moved slowly so as not to disturb Ron, who was snoring lightly beside her. He had slept over last night for emotional support. She greatly appreciated his gesture, but it was proving to be difficult to get dressed without waking him. She stumbled in the dark, nearly crashing into her dresser but saving herself at the last second. She managed to quietly rummage around in the drawers and pull out a clean sports bra and tiny shorts. She slipped her clothes on quietly and tiptoed out the door.

As she turned into the common chamber, she almost walked directly into Malfoy, who was shuffling out his door at the same time. They both looked at each other, and Malfoy greeted her silently with a curt nod. His hair was tousled and his eyes were bloodshot, as if he'd had trouble sleeping. Hermione walked behind him out their door and down the steps away from Head Tower.

They walked outside of the castle and stood by the Hogwarts bridge, waiting for Megan. Hermione stole a glance at Malfoy while he wasn't watching. In the morning twilight, he looked almost young and vulnerable. She noticed that he really was thin for a boy of his age, and his pale blond hair and tired eyes made him seem almost childlike. When he was quiet, it was easier for her to forget that she hated him.

They heard footsteps approaching quickly behind them, and they turned in unison. Megan was jogging up to them. "Ready? Let's go," she called as she passed them, and they both started after her in solemn silence.

Megan immediately started firing questions at them. "Hermione," she said, "is it warmer or cooler than it was at this time yesterday?"

Hermione tried to think. "A little bit cooler."

"Yes. By how many degrees?"

"I'm not sure, maybe three?"

"Five. So what does that tell us about the weather?"

"A storm front just passed through and sunny, clear weather is likely for the next few days."

"Yes. Draco, what is significant about periods with calm, sunny weather?"

"Less opportunity for crime?"

"Yup. Crime usually drops slightly during good weather because visibility improves, meaning the number of potential witnesses is higher. Unfortunately, it also makes it harder to track suspects without detection. We rarely get much intel done during these periods. Hermione, do you hear any birds?"

"Yes."

"How many?"

Hermione listened for a moment. "Maybe five?"

"Close. I'd say seven to eight. Draco, what kinds of calls are they exhibiting?"

"Mating calls."

"Six are using mating calls. However, one is emitting a distress call. Can you pick it out?"

Hermione and Draco listened more closely and then noticed the bird's distress call.

"Can you tell why the bird is distressed?"

"I saw a peregrine falcon several minutes ago; it's most likely that the distress call is in response to the falcon, and not to a human disturbance," said Draco.

"Good, Draco. It's important to know the cause of animal distress and whether it's simply a natural environmental stressor or something more malicious that could be a danger to you as well."

Draco and Hermione followed Megan around the woods for several more miles, working their senses furiously. Each was determined to be extra alert to make up for their transgressions the day before. Megan led them down a previously untraveled path, and Draco and Hermione were surprised to find them heading towards the outside of Head Tower.

Megan stopped running in front of Head Tower. "Recognize your quarters from the outside?"

Hermione and Draco nodded, panting.

"This is going to be the site of your training today. I'm going to warn you beforehand: this session is going to be very, very difficult. If you're going to finish this, you are going to have to work your body both physically and mentally. Are you ready to hear your task?"

Draco and Hermione nodded somewhat hesitantly.

"You're going to have to scale Head Tower."

Hermione gasped out loud. Head Tower was over three stories tall, and the outside composition was of tightly compacted stones. There were very few usable ledges, and the rock was tough and unyielding. She didn't see how they would be able to complete this.

"Erm, Megan." Draco cleared his throat and shifted his feet uncomfortably. "I am a little bit frightened of heights."

"The Academy doesn't have the time to wait for you to get over your fears," said Megan, "so you are going to have to get over it today. This will be your chance to conquer it – if you're scared of heights, you should climb the highest building you can find. Plus, heights should be the least of your fears if you are going to be an Auror. Wizarding criminals are going to be shooting deadly curses at you almost daily. Now get ready to climb that wall. I'll be standing here exclusively watching you. I promise to immediately catch you when you fall. Also, I promise you: you will fall. If you don't, you aren't trying hard enough. Well, what are you waiting for?" Megan asked when Draco and Hermione continued to stare at her. "Start climbing."

They both ran up to the wall and started digging their hands into the stone at eye level. Hermione's feet slipped on the wall as she tried to support herself on the way up. Draco wasn't doing much better. Both of them floundered on the wall, barely a foot off the ground.

"Think!" called Megan from behind them. "In the real world, you're going to encounter many physical obstacles that you're going to have to conquer quickly. If your method isn't working, TRY ANOTHER."

Hermione spread her arms and legs further apart, trying to get a stronger grip on the wall. She found she could hold on better to the stone that way, but she didn't have enough power to propel herself off the wall. She let go and dropped a foot to the grass beneath her. To her left, Draco was using a running start to try and work his way higher up the wall; however, he wasn't able to get a solid grip on the stone to hold himself up.

"Keep trying," yelled Megan. "It IS possible. Think creatively."

Hermione blew her breath into her hair in frustration. Her fingers ached from clawing at the stone walls. She inhaled and placed her hands on the wall above her head, feeling for a strong ledge that would support her fingers. When she found one, she placed her feet on a ledge barely a few inches off the ground and rested, searching above her on the wall for a new ledge. When she found one, she pushed off the ledge her feet stood on to send her higher. She grabbed the new ledge and pulled herself up, sticking her feet into the building to support her. She glanced down and noticed she was almost three feet off the ground.

"YES, Hermione. Good thinking," Megan yelled.

Hermione took her time adjusting to the new position, and then thrust herself higher to grasp onto a new ledge. She used this method slowly but surely to inch higher on the stone wall. She glanced down below her to see Draco making progress – he was using a modified version of her movements to climb the wall. She was determined to beat him, and moved forwards. In her haste, she slipped off the wall and screamed.

"Levicorpus!"

Hermione was jerked up by her foot, and then gently lowered the ten feet to the ground. When Megan set her down, she immediately attacked the wall again. Draco had a whole body's length advantage on her. She chased him doggedly until he made a mistake and fell. Megan supported his fall on the way down, and he climbed back up as soon as his feet hit the ground.

Hermione made sure her movements were solid and careful. She didn't want to waste any precious advantage by falling again. Her hands were becoming slippery from the sweat beading on them, but she tightened her grip on the wall. Soon she reached the third story window. As she passed by it, she glanced in her bedroom, noticing Ron still asleep on her bed. She admired his ability to sleep through Megan's incessant yelling.

Hermione was almost at the roof. She could feel Draco on her heels – he was only about three feet below her. He had the advantage of longer limbs, so he could catch up quickly – but she had a better center of balance, which she used to make sturdy advances up the stone. She grunted as she pushed her feet off the last ledge and felt her hand scrape the edge of the roof of Head Tower. She pulled her other hand up and walked her feet up the stone wall under the roof. She dragged her stomach onto the brick roof and practically rolled her body onto it. It wasn't a very graceful finish, but she had done it.

"Good, Hermione! Great persistence," cheered Megan. Draco's hand appeared on the edge of the roof, and he slowly pulled himself up to the top as well. They both sat on the edge, their legs dangling off as they panted.

"That was great, you guys. You did that really quickly," called Megan. "You can jump down now. Hermione, you first."

Hermione inhaled deeply, closed her eyes, and pushed herself off the roof. She felt a thrilling falling feeling for three seconds before Megan's spell kicked in, slowly lowering her to the ground. She looked back up at Draco still sitting on the roof.

"Okay Draco, your turn."

Draco had turned ashen. "Can I just climb through the third story window and come back outside from the castle?"

Hermione's heart raced. If he climbed through the window, he would run into Ron in her bedroom. She didn't want Ron to lose his temper at Malfoy and a fight to ensue.

"No, Draco. You need to get over your fears now – they won't have time to walk you through this next year," Megan said impatiently.

Hermione relaxed. She could see Malfoy shaking slightly from the ground. He inhaled deeply and practically fell off the roof. Megan waited a good five seconds before she slowed his fall, and he looked almost terrified as he came into contact with the ground.

"Sorry to scare you there, Draco, but it's important that you aren't scared of heights anymore. I'll work with you privately until you get over this. Don't worry, it won't take long." Megan smiled at both of them. "Great job. Scaling that wall is very hard. I'm impressed with how quickly you both did that. On the job, you'll have to deal with all kinds of physical obstacles. Unfortunately, none of them come with instruction manuals. Being athletic and being able to think on your feet is necessary to be able to get wherever you need to go. This challenge teaches you how to start thinking like that. We'll be doing a lot more physical challenges like this, but it was a very good start."

"I hope you both aren't too tired, because you're going to spar for a bit longer to finish off our session."

Draco and Hermione turned to face each other and wearily put their fists up.


	4. Chapter 4

After the training session, Hermione had showered and dragged herself to her classes. Her stomach muscles were killing her, and she could still feel her arms trembling from the morning's exertion.

She had Arithmancy first with a few other Ravenclaws. The lesson was mildly interesting, but for once Hermione had trouble paying attention. She spent most of the class staring blankly through the professor, her mind turning over the events of the last couple days.

She resolved to snap out of her funk before the next class, Defense Against the Dark Arts. It wouldn't do to appear dazed and out of focus in front of Megan. She didn't want her to think that the Auror training was becoming a distraction.

She ducked into the nearest bathroom after Arithmancy was over and quickly leaned over the sink, splashing water in her eyes and on her face. She shook it off, staring at herself in the mirror. Her eyes still looked tired and dull, but at least the water had opened them slightly. She straightened her robe and dried her face off, glancing once more at the mirror before heading out the door to the DADA classroom.

Harry and Ron were already sitting towards the front of the class when she arrived. She was grateful to see them there – they would help her collect herself. However, her mood darkened slightly when she saw Malfoy sitting in the opposite corner from them. She predicted they would have many of the same classes together, as there were many classes that Aurors-in-training were required to take their seventh year.

She slid into the seat that Ron had saved for her. "Hey!"

"Hey Hermione. So how excited are you for class with your mentor?" Ron jokingly teased, poking her in the ribs.

Hermione groaned. "Not excited at all. Guess what she made us do today? Climb Head Tower with our bare hands."

Harry and Ron stared. "Is that…possible?" asked Harry.

"I wouldn't have thought so yesterday, but we did it. I'm so exhausted and drained from doing this training. I just had Arithmancy, and I can't for the life of me remember what the lesson was about. The whole time I just stared off into space and zoned out."

"Wait, you were daydreaming?" Ron turned to Harry. "Call a Healer, I think she's broken."

"I've been feeling weird all day. I just want to make it through this class and appear normal. I don't want Megan to think that the training is affecting me negatively."

"Call me crazy, but wouldn't that be a good thing? If she knew this training was having such a physical effect on you, maybe she'd ease up a little," said Harry, seeming concerned.

"I mean, as much as I would love that, it would be more harmful to me in the long run. At the Academy, they're going to expect me to be able to endure tests like that. If Megan babies me this year, it will be even worse next year when I'm not adequately prepared. I need to just suck it up and, I dunno, invest in some Muggle steroids or something."

"Steroids?" Ron asked as Harry laughed. The classroom door shut suddenly, and Megan strode in, looking pristine.

"She doesn't look that exhausted," whispered Ron.

"Well yeah, it's not that tiring watching other people fall off a wall," Hermione shot back.

"Point taken."

"Good morning class," said Megan. "My name is Megan Hewlett, and I am your professor. Hogwarts is in the process of trying to find a permanent Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, but myself and other Aurors from the Academy have offered to fill in during the interim period. At the moment, I'm not sure how long I will be with you, so I guess the best course of action will be to teach you as much as I can as quickly as possible!"

Harry and Ron shot each other looks, excited to be learning magic from an actual Auror.

"Does everyone have a copy of the textbook, Defensive Magic, Year Seven?" There was a rustling as the class pulled out their copies from their bags. "Excellent. If you could turn to page 102 in the book, you will see a heading entitled the 'Flattening Spell.' We'll start with that."

As Megan began her lesson, Hermione stole a glance over at Malfoy. He looked like she felt: his face was flushed and his eyes appeared dull and tired. He leafed through the pages with a robotic motion, and it seemed like his eyes were just staring at the page without absorbing any of the information. Hermione almost felt a twinge of sympathy before she turned away, focusing her eyes on Megan.

Hermione remained in her tired, dazed slump for the rest of the week. Her routine remained virtually unchangeable: wake up before dawn, train with Megan and Malfoy for several hours, go to class, and then study if she had the energy. Often the training sessions with Megan ran late, and Hermione would walk into the dining hall just as breakfast was finishing and there was little food left. The house elves took pity on her and started leaving her private meals in her room, which Hermione often devoured as soon as she got back from training.

Her time spent with Ron and Harry decreased significantly. Auror training took up much of her free time, and she also had her studies and Head Girl duties to attend to. She and Malfoy were in charge of managing all the prefects, and they took the late night shift patrolling the corridors. Over the past week, Hermione really only saw Harry and Ron during meals she managed to attend and during classes they had together. Ron managed to sneak into her room several nights that week, but Hermione was usually too tired to be very interactive.

The sessions with Megan had only gotten more intense that week. Hermione was certain Megan was trying to make some point by making the tasks they had to accomplish almost superhuman feats. Tuesday she had Hermione and Draco swim the perimeter of the lake, almost three miles in total. On Wednesday she made them climb trees in the woods and move from tree to tree while in the air – no magic allowed. Thursday she set up a ropes course for them. That was the worst – they were expected to work together to complete it.

She and Draco simply couldn't communicate effectively. Draco was more impulsive than she, and he would brashly forge ahead while leaving her in the dust. She preferred to think through her moves, which annoyed him. He was always convinced he was right, which exasperated her. And while they showed each other utmost respect in front of their mentor, they both hid a layer of veiled anger in their voices when they talked.

Working so closely everyday with her previous enemy was tiring Hermione emotionally. They pretty much avoided each other in Head Tower, and on the occasion they did bump into each other they usually didn't say anything.

Today was Saturday, the third day Megan had made them work on a ropes course together. The morning had been a disaster.

"Come on, you guys!" Megan screamed. "You aren't even trying to cooperate!" Draco had just dropped Hermione while trying to lift her over a brick wall. "You're both fighting each other mentally. You have to work like a team."

"I can't believe you can't even keep me up when I'm putting half my weight on the wall," Hermione muttered as Draco pulled her off the floor.

"That's cause your way is stupid," Draco said through a clenched smile. "We should just scale it like I suggested."

"And break my fingers? I don't think so."

"No fighting," called Megan. "Work together, you guys."

The rest of the session didn't improve any. Draco and Hermione took their frustration out on each other during sparring, each landing multiple hard hits on the other. Megan ended the session early, blaming some work she had to finish for the Academy, and Draco and Hermione stalked off in different directions.

Hermione watched his back as he walked away from her. He had taken his shirt off during the ropes course, and his pale back glistened with sweat. His shoulders had gotten broader and stronger since he began Auror training, and he no longer had the skinny frame she had associated with him throughout their school years.

Hermione turned away from him and walked back towards Head Tower. She wanted to see Harry and Ron really badly, but right now she just needed to sleep the lesson off. She climbed the stairs up the tower and entered through the portrait, pushing aside the red tapestry. As she was about to walk into her room, her eyes fell on the velvet lined purple couch in the common chamber. She lay down and closed her eyes.

Hermione woke an hour later, feeling a presence in the room. She opened her eyes to see Ron standing over her.

"Hi Ron." She smiled sleepily. "I was just gonna go find you and Harry after I woke up."

"Yeah, I figured you'd be done by now so I thought I'd try to find you," said Ron, sitting on the couch next to her and smiling. "So how are you?"

"I'm okay," she said, grabbing his hand. "Better now that I'm with you."

"How was this morning?"

Hermione snorted. "Awful. I had to work with Malfoy on a ropes course and he dropped me. I'm worried Megan is going to get fed up with us."

"She knows how hard you've been working; I'm sure she understands that not everything is going to work automatically." Ron leaned over and kissed Hermione on the forehead.

"I wanted to talk to you about this week – I feel like I barely see you anymore." Ron looked at her, his blue eyes serious. "Harry and I were talking about it and I realized pretty much they only time I get to talk with you is in class. Plus the few times I've slept here that's pretty much all we did – sleep. I don't know, I just – I just miss having you around as my girlfriend, you know?"

Hermione rubbed her eyes and sighed. "Ron, I'm sorry. I know I've been really absent. I'm not doing it purposefully – I miss you and Harry like you can't even imagine. It just seems like every single second of my day is scheduled. I didn't realize this Auror training would take so much time…plus on top of that I have my studies, and the new Head Girl duties. It's been like hell. I barely even have time to eat or sleep. It'll probably get easier once I get the hang of this bloody schedule…"

"But will it get easier?" Ron asked. "You're only going to get more busy as the school year goes on. You'll have more studying, more training to attend to, and I'm going have Quidditch practice starting in a few weeks. I have the feeling it's only going to get worse."

Hermione brushed his hair from his eyes tenderly. "It's not going to get worse. I promise, I'll make more time to see you, starting right now…today. We'll be fine. This year'll be just like this last summer, I'll show you."

Ron nodded and slowly got up from the couch. "Welp, Harry and Ginny sent me to get you. We were all going to go practice Quidditch in that meadow near the Forbidden Forest, and we wanted you to come watch. We're going to pack a picnic and make a day of it. If you come I promise to practice shirtless," Ron said wickedly.

Hermione giggled and got up from the couch, kissing him under his ear. "Well then it's a deal." He grabbed her by the hand and led her from the common chamber. As she leaned against him, a wave of uncertainty flooded over her. Deep in her heart, she knew Ron was right – it would only get more difficult for them to find time for each other as the year progressed. She really hoped nothing would change between them from this summer. She would just have to make a bigger effort to find time to spend with him. She couldn't imagine losing Ron – she wouldn't let that happen. Just because the semester got off to a bad start for them didn't mean it had to end that way…right?

Sunday dawned with a rainy demeanor – dark clouds riddled the skyline and a low thunder grumbled in the distance. Hermione sat up in bed, wakened by the thunder. Yesterday had put her in a particularly good mood. She had spent the day with Ginny and the boys in the meadow, watching their Quidditch practice from her comfortable blanket on the ground. She chose to stick her loyalty with the girls' side and cheered on Ginny as she hurled a particularly tricky Quaffle past Ron. After her continued heckling of the boys, Harry and Ron insisted she get up on a broom. Ginny lent her the broom and she flew around, playing one on one against Harry with Ron as goal keeper. She even scored once, although she was pretty sure Ron took pity on her and didn't try too hard to save it.

She looked at Ron sleeping next to her, his body framed by the deep red sheets. He looked peaceful, sleeping almost silently. She felt a wave of affection rush over her – she was glad he had come to talk to her about how he was feeling. She cared about Ron so much and really wanted them to last as a couple. Looking at his body lying tangled in the blankets made her tempted to spend the rest of the day in bed with him. Seeing Megan and Draco was about the last thing she wanted to do right now.

She reluctantly pulled herself out of bed and picked her workout clothes out, noting to herself that they were pretty much all she wore these days. She walked over to the mirror to fix her hair. As she glanced at her reflection, she was pleasantly surprised to see that her stomach looked tough – her ab muscles were becoming more defined, and she looked more dynamic and streamlined than she was used to.

She jumped on Ron in the bed, and he woke up startled and flailing about.

"Who'sere?"

"Sorry," whispered Hermione, kissing up and down his chest. "Just wanted to say bye before I left."

Ron sank back under the covers. "Well you're in a feisty mood," he said, wrapping his hands in her ponytail.

Hermione pressed her mouth against his and growled lightly as he laughed. He kissed her on the mouth with a little peck and she pulled away.

"I have to go," she said with a frown.

"Stay with me," Ron said with an evil grin, grabbing her hand and pulling her towards him.

"Ugh, it's already hard enough to go as it is," moaned Hermione. "Don't make it harder!" He pulled her into him for one final kiss, slightly biting her lip as he pushed his mouth against hers. He slipped his tongue in her mouth lightly, and she rubbed hers against it eagerly, pulling his head to hers strongly. He started to grab her and move her back into bed with him, and she snapped out of it and broke away from him.

"See you later tonight?" Hermione asked, breathless from the kiss.

"Of course," answered Ron, throwing her a wink, and Hermione left the room.

As she entered the common room, she noticed Draco's door was already open and he was gone. She hoped she wasn't too late. She hurried past the tapestry and out the door, taking the steps two at a time. The sky growled angrily outside, but Hermione welcomed the relief from the hot summer morning sun.

She walked out the castle doors and noticed Draco was already waiting by the bridge. She walked over towards him and they both acknowledged each other with a silent wave. Hermione looked up at the sky, taking in the humidity and impending storm. Little pieces of her hair stood on end, absorbing the electricity in the air.

Draco pointed to their right. "Look," he said.

Hermione noticed a small dark figure in the sky, still far away, but approaching them fairly quickly. It looked like someone was flying on a broom – but who would be crazy enough to be out flying in this weather? As the figure came closer, Hermione recognized the dark brown hair whipping around in the wind.

"It's Megan," she whispered. Megan was flying towards them on an old Nimbus 2001, and it looked like she had brought two other brooms in tow. Hermione dreaded the thought of flying through the storm, and she hoped that wasn't what Megan had planned for them.

Megan landed in front of them. "Good morning, you two. I have something a little bit different planned for today – we're going to have to travel a bit before we reach our destination. Hermione, are you going to be comfortable flying on a broom?"

"Err…I think so," Hermione said, grasping the Nimbus 2001 Megan had handed to her.

"It's not a very long trip, but it might start raining and winds are stronger today," said Megan. "So try to stay close behind me if you can." Draco had already mounted his broom and was looking at Megan seriously, his eyes matching the dark skies above their heads.

"Okay, let's go!" The group kicked off and Megan started off in a direction southwest from the castle. Hermione was glad she had flown with Ron and Harry yesterday – the recent practice would help her. She wasn't very comfortable on a broom, especially in the high winds that were making her broom list lightly from side to side. She resolved not to be frightened – she thought of her three friends playing happily in the sunny afternoon the day before, swooping and diving and laughing without a worry.

Draco flew easily next to her, his hair swept back from his face by the wind and the light rain that had begun to fall. He looked at home on a broom, a relic of his Quidditch playing days. He swooped around easily, almost bored by the easy ride.

Hermione was excited. She didn't know whether it was the sudden change in the weather, the electricity in the air, or the mystery and danger of where they were going, but she felt like today was going to be very thrilling. Her broom shook slightly as the climbed even higher, but she held on resolutely and stared after Megan's back.

Megan was scanning the ground, looking for their final destination. She dove lower and Draco and Hermione followed behind her. The rain was lessening their visibility, and Hermione squinted against the storm. Megan called to them, pointing in between the trees below them. Hermione looked at Draco, but he just shrugged and followed Megan. Hermione dove after them, the cool rain stinging her face.

As they neared the ground, Hermione scanned the area below them. She couldn't see much through all the trees, but it didn't look like there were any impressive structures around. In fact, the only building she could make out was an old, dingy one-story building with a flat roof. The top was an off white color with various rust stains and obvious weathering over the years.

They landed in front of the building and Hermione noted the small, dust covered windows and metal door. It looked like some kind of prison.

"Where are we?" asked Draco, looking confused.

"This is part of Auror Academy," said Megan grandly. Hermione and Draco glanced at each other – this was not how they had pictured the Academy looking.

"It's not quite as I had imagined," said Hermione.

"It's not on the main campus," Megan said, noticing their surprised faces. "This is an outside building that we use for training exercises. Outside it's really just the bare minimum, nothing impressive. Let's go in, shall we?"

Megan grabbed the metal bar on the door and yanked it open. It moved forward slowly, with a loud creak. The room in front of them was pitch black. Megan stepped in and Draco and Hermione followed her.

The door shut behind them with a loud bang, and Hermione jumped. The three of them were standing in a completely dark room.

"Hermione, Draco, are you alright?"

Hermione nodded until she realized Megan couldn't see her. "Yes."

"This room is designed for sensory deprivation exercises. We're going to be training in here today. You both need to come together as a team. I know we've been focusing on physical training, but part of becoming an Auror is learning to read your teammate. It is _so_ important to know exactly how your partner is going to think and how they are going to react. A team that is mentally connected gains so much more of an advantage than a team that is just physically fit. A team that is connected can fend off six, maybe seven attackers all at once. That's why we are going to stay here today until you two can learn to connect and to read the other – without talking, without looking. You are just going to have to feel each other out. That's your goal for today."

"Another Auror is in this room right now. Today, he is going to be acting as your target. We've set up a scenario for you: the Auror in this room is acting as a Muggle thief. He has stolen something, a package, which he is going to be carrying in his arms. He is also armed. You won't know what the weapon is or where he is hiding it, and it's going to change on each successive attempt. He won't use it on you, but if he manages to get one of you in a compromising position with the weapon, the attempt will be over. The room is also going to be filled with physical obstacles that will change with each attempt. You'll have to use all your other senses, as your sight has been compromised. I'll be using a charm so I'll be able to watch you through the dark and tell you how you need to improve."

"Will we be able to talk to each other?" asked Draco.

"No, you can't talk in this exercise. You need to learn to read each other's thoughts without the advantage of verbal communication. Are you ready? I'm going to go to the other side of the room so I can watch while I'm out of your way. Sonorus," she said, her voice suddenly getting louder. "DRACO, HERMIONE, GET READY. BEGIN ATTEMPT ONE."

Hermione looked around, frightened in the dark room. She immediately heard footsteps running from them in the opposite direction. Draco started running besides her and she ran next to him, trying to head in the direction of the fleeing footsteps. The footsteps sped up and became more forceful, and Hermione ran faster, feeling Draco match her pace on her right.

She could feel the fleeing man just a few feet in front of her, and she felt Draco increase his stride. Then she heard a low kick and a yelp – Draco had swept his foot out and he had tumbled to the ground. She heard the package fly and she jumped to where she thought it had landed. As she did so her head hit something hard and she fell back, reeling. She felt an arm wrap around her shoulders and pull her up, then the cool sharp metal of a knife blade against her throat. She screamed, confused and frightened, and the arm quickly removed itself.

"HERMIONE, DRACO, YOU BOTH WENT AFTER THE PACKAGE IN THE DARK." Megan's voice boomed across the room. "YOU COMPLETELY MISSED AND HIT EACH OTHER IN THE HEAD. THE AUROR WASN'T ATTENDED TO AND HE WAS ABLE TO GRAB YOU, HERMIONE. IF THIS WAS REAL YOU COULD HAVE DIED. YOU NEED TO READ EACH OTHER BETTER…MAKE SURE YOU AREN'T BOTH GOING AFTER THE SAME THING. TRY AGAIN, ATTEMPT NUMBER TWO."

Hermione was shaking slightly after feeling a knife blade against her neck. She backed up in the dark and tried to collect herself. She felt Draco walk up next to her.

"You okay?" he whispered.

"Err, yeah," she said. "Thanks."

"BEGIN," Megan said.

They heard the Auror take off running a few feet to their right and they sprinted after him. After a few seconds they heard the footsteps stop. Confused, they kept running towards the direction he had been going in.

They both fell down in unison as they smacked against a stone wall. Hermione cried out in the darkness, and Draco let out a low grunt. He got up immediately and pulled her up beside him. He placed her foot in his hand, intending to help her over the wall. She accepted and pulled herself up on the wall, straddling the top. She leaned over and groped around in the dark until she grasped his hand. She pulled him up towards her as he walked up the wall, using his other hand to pull himself up. They both stood on top of the wall, noting the lack of footsteps anywhere around them. Draco jumped, and Hermione followed suit. She heard him gasp and then the click of an empty gun.

"DRACO, HERMIONE. YOU BOTH HELPED EACH OTHER THAT TIME – THAT WAS GOOD. BUT YOU MADE SEVERAL FATAL MISTAKES. YOU BOTH REACTED LOUDLY WHEN YOU HIT THE WALL. I KNOW IT WAS PAINFUL, BUT IT ALSO ALERTED YOUR OPPONENT TO YOUR POSITION. ALSO, WHEN YOU CLIMBED THE WALL, YOU LOST YOUR FOCUS ON THE SCENE AROUND YOU. THE LACK OF FOOTSTEPS ON THE OTHER SIDE SHOULD HAVE SIGNALED YOU THAT YOUR OPPONENT WAS STANDING THERE, WAITING FOR YOU TO JUMP. IT WAS AN IMPROVEMENT ON THE FIRST ATTEMPT, THOUGH, GOOD JOB. TRY AGAIN, ATTEMPT THREE."

Hermione heard Draco breathing in the dark and she stepped over next to him. She felt Draco turn to look at her in the dark.

"BEGIN," Megan boomed.

The Auror's footsteps were in front of them, but fairly distant sounding. Hermione and Draco started after him, making sure to listen carefully this time. Their strides matched one another, and they were making ground on the fleeing man.

Hermione lurched forward suddenly, her strides becoming ragged. The floor had slanted; they were heading downhill. Draco increased his stride and grabbed her hand to pull her alongside him. Hermione sped up and tried to calculate their distance from the running man. He wasn't that far ahead of them. In just a few more strides, they should be able to catch him.

When they were within an arms length of him, Hermione held onto Draco's shoulder for support and ducked down, kicking the Auror's legs out. He stumbled, giving them some ground on him. Draco grabbed his wrist and swung him around to face them. The Auror still held onto the package, but he was clearly struggling to hold his balance. Hermione stood up and grabbed his other wrist, blocking his leg from kicking her with her lower leg. She grimaced as his foot connected with her shin, but it didn't hurt enough for her to recoil. Draco swung around him and landed a solid punch in his gut, causing him to bend over. Hermione saw her chance and grabbed the package, turning away and running up the hill. Draco followed suit and caught up with her, the two of them running together.

"NICE WORK, DRACO AND HERMIONE. YOU WORKED TOGETHER REALLY WELL ON THAT ONE. SET THE PACKAGE DOWN AND REGROUP, YOU'RE GOING TO TRY IT AGAIN. ATTEMPT NUMBER FOUR."

Hermione set the package down on the ground and stepped away from it, hearing the Auror walk forwards and pick it up. She stepped back near Draco and heard him turn towards her, breathing heavily. She grabbed his arm and pulled him back.

"OKAY. BEGIN."

They didn't hear any movement from the Auror, so they both stayed in place, standing with their backs against each other, turning and trying to hear any sign of their opponent's position. Hermione detected a rustle to her right and she whirled in that direction. Draco took off in that direction and hurled himself at the Auror. Hermione heard them both fall to the ground, wrestling with one another. She walked over in that direction, being careful not to interfere with their fight. She heard Draco grunt as the Auror gained the advantage and pinned him under himself, holding his arms down against the ground.

Hermione saw her chance and kicked his elbow. The Auror faltered and Draco wasted no time sliding out from under his body. He flipped the Auror over and tried to hold him down. Hermione went for his robe pockets and pulled out a club. She threw it across the room, hearing it clatter several meters to the right. She kept on at his robes, searching for the package until she finally found it on the other side. Draco was losing his hold as the Auror began to overpower him, so she grabbed it quickly and stepped away from the fight. Draco sprung off the Auror and ran after her, catching up easily.

"GREAT JOB, YOU BOTH. THAT WAS PERFECT – ONE OF YOU INCAPACITATED HIM WHILE THE OTHER DISARMED HIM AND TOOK BACK THE PACKAGE. THAT'S WHAT YOU NEED TO BE DOING EVERY TIME. GREAT JOB – LET'S TRY IT AGAIN. ATTEMPT NUMBER FIVE."

The group stayed in the training facility for about an hour more, continuing the scenario with varying levels of difficulties and obstacles. Draco and Hermione lost much more often than they won, but they were getting better.

Hermione was beginning to understand how they operated together. Draco liked to be the physical impulsive one: he often acted first to bring their opponent down. He acted as the strength behind their team. Hermione knew that her advantage was in her quickness. She was quicker to think, react, and move. She was sneakier than he was. As they moved through these scenarios, they began to sort themselves into these roles. Hermione felt she was beginning to read Draco's style of thinking much better, often guessing what move he was going to make just moments before he acted.

Megan was pleased with their efforts as she called the session to a close. They heard her thank the Auror in her normal voice, and then heard the loud pop as he disapparated from the room. She grabbed both their wrists and led them out of the training facility.

Hermione and Draco squinted in the light, their eyes accustomed to the pitch black of the training room. Megan faced them.

"You both did really well. You learned a lot today – you learned how the other works, how you both think, and what your strengths and weaknesses are as a team. That's really important knowledge. I'm glad you two are beginning to work past your differences – I think you make a really strong team." Megan smiled at them. Hermione looked at Draco and saw him looking straight at her. She looked away quickly.

"I'm going to stay at the Academy for a bit – I have a mission I need to do some work for. Draco, do you know the way back to the castle?"

Draco nodded.

"Good. Take these two brooms back – you can lead Hermione back. That was really great work today, you two. I hope you continue to work together like that…you could be invaluable as a team." With that, Megan turned and left them standing together, holding the brooms.

"Well, should we be off then?" said Hermione, not looking at Draco. She saw him nod out of the side of her vision.

"Follow me." He mounted his broom and pushed off from the ground, rising quickly in the sky. Hermione quickly got on her broom and followed him. It was still raining outside, but it was a welcome cooling after practicing in the dingy training room. Hermione felt refreshed. She looked at Draco's back. She had never really watched him fly before today. He looked completely comfortable on his broom, his arms gripping the handle lightly, his muscles clenched.

She was impressed with how they had worked together today. He seemed to be able to tell what she was going to do, even without seeing her. He came to her rescue several times during their practice, knocking away their opponent's arm when he went to hit her. He often anticipated her moves and reacted accordingly to produce the second hit. They worked well together by the end of the session and had become a formidable team. Hermione was beginning to think she would be able to bear working together with him in the future.

Draco turned his broom sharply to the right and started on a downward dive, motioning for her to follow him. She did, and they flew through the trees, coming up on Hogwarts castle. Draco skimmed the ground and jumped off his broom, grabbing it and jogging a few steps before coming to a walk. Hermione followed behind him and dismounted.

They walked up towards the castle together, side-by-side. Draco stole a glance at Hermione, and opened his mouth to say something, but changed his mind and shut it silently. Hermione listened to his breathing as they walked, which was sort of ragged and awkward sounding.

Draco opened his mouth again, this time to speak. "That was fun – today. "

Hermione turned to look at him, unsure if he was mocking her in some way. "I mean, I never really got to work like that with someone before…side-by-side. I think we made a really good team. It was nice." He shut his mouth and glanced away, embarrassed by the honest nature of his words.

Hermione nodded slowly. "Yes, it was nice, wasn't it? That was the first time I felt really able to feel what you were thinking when we worked together."

They walked back to the castle in silence. This time Hermione turned to look at Draco. His face was slightly flushed from the exertion mixed with the cold rain. His hair still looked soft and blond, even when covered with sweat. She looked away and smiled. She could get used to working with him. Like this, he was even tolerable. Maybe they would possibly become friends by the end of the year.

Hermione walked up the steps towards Head Tower and realized that was where Draco was heading too. They walked through the portrait hole and as they entered the common room, Hermione turned to face him.

"Draco," she began, "I have a question for you."

Draco looked at her.

"I want to be able to be open with you – I want to be able to talk normally. I don't want to feel like I should avoid you when we both live in here."

"Have at it," said Draco cautiously.

"Erm…" Hermione started, "why do you want to be an Auror so badly?"

Draco stared at the ground, studying his feet. "Hermione, that question has a really long answer, one involving a lot of information about my family."

Hermione spread her hands. "So tell me. I'm willing to listen. I'm sure you had to tell Megan, so you might as well tell me. We're in this together, you know. If we both make it through our training, we're going to be working together for the rest of our lives."

Draco looked at her, his steely eyes boring in to hers. "Okay. Okay, I'll tell you. But please don't scoff, or judge, or…you know, anything Weasley would do."

"Promise."

Draco sat down on the couch, spreading his arms over the back. "So after the war, most of the Death Eaters remained alive. You're aware of the fact that the Ministry has hardly caught any of them; most of them went into hiding. My family didn't have to – we were cleared because the Ministry considered us to have helped Harry Potter before Voldemort was defeated."

"Because of this, and because of my family's…err, reluctance to aid Voldemort during the second war, our family is considered a bit traitorous in the Death Eater circle. We're a bit wanted at the moment. There is a small sect of Aurors assigned to the mission of protecting my family. Yes, including Megan," said Draco, seeing Hermione's sudden look of understanding.

"That's where she goes after our lessons are finished. Anyway, the remaining live Death Eaters are biding their time. They've sort of formed a new hierarchy – Theodore Nott's the ringleader. They're nowhere near as powerful as they were when Voldemort was alive, but they're nowhere near done either. Their mission is simple – eliminate as many Muggle-borns as possible, along with those that they consider to be traitors to the pure blood cause. Now, that includes my family."

"I want to be an Auror so I can protect my family. I don't want them to live in fear of the other Death Eaters for the rest of their life. I want to be able to chase down the remaining Death Eaters and find them – and then make sure they are locked up in Azkaban. I just want to feel safe."

Hermione nodded. "I didn't know this was going on – I thought most of the Death Eaters were on the run, just trying to stay alive. I didn't know any of them were plotting."

Draco snorted. "They're Death Eaters. They're terrified for their lives. Now that the Ministry is back in power, they don't have anyone watching their backs. They're all marked, so most of them figured they might as well try to bring down as many Undesireables as they can before they go out."

Hermione sat down next to Draco. "Draco, why isn't your family joining the rest of the Death Eaters? From what I've seen of your father, he shares their opinions on blood purity and Muggle-borns."

"It's not that simple, Hermione." Draco frowned. "They see my family as traitors because my mother's actions helped bring about Voldemort's downfall. We can't just go and rejoin them – it's not even like we'd really want to."

"So what makes your family exempt from all punishment? For the majority of the war, you fought with Voldemort. Your father was the one who brought his horcrux into the school to reopen the Chamber of Secrets. Why does your family get to run free?"

Draco glared at her. "You think my family's status in the wizarding world is easy, Hermione? Do you think there aren't any expectations, being one of the oldest and richest pureblood families still living? It's not like my parents up and decided one day, why don't we put our lives at risk and join forces with one of the most evil wizards who ever lived? He threatened them, Hermione! He needed their money and power on his side. He threatened their lives – more specifically, my life. When I was just born, he approached them and said he would take me away and raise me himself if they did not serve him. What would you have done?"

"Ever since, they have had to live under his thumb – doing as they were told for fear of their lives and my life. Maybe my parents weren't always the biggest fans of Muggles or Muggle-borns, but most purebloods are raised not to be. That doesn't mean they wanted to up and murder them! You see the world in right and wrong – in pure black and white. But you had it easy. You came into this world knowing nothing. Your family was safe in the Muggle world. You got to choose to fight in the war; nobody threatened your life if you didn't. My parents and I lived in constant fear over the last year," Draco spat out. "Not only fear of the other side, but fear of our leader, Voldemort. He could have killed us at any moment he felt we weren't loyal enough. What were we to do? I wished every goddamn day I could have had the easy choice you did – to come into this world, fighting for good and equality. This pureblood status is a curse: you become subject to whatever the other purebloods want from you. You should take a minute to stop condemning me and my side, and maybe start realizing how lucky you were," Draco shouted. "How lucky you were to be able to fight for what you believed in, with a clear conscience. And now that your side has won, you can go about your life easily, without constant fear or dread in the pit in your stomach."

Hermione remained silent for a second out of shock. "Draco, I didn't mean to –"

"I think you should go," said Draco, looking at the ground."

"Draco, I-"

"GO!" he barked, standing up from the couch.

Hermione jumped up, startled, and fled to her room, a single tear streaming down her cheek.

Author's Notes: Forgot to give credit to a line last chapter: "For the smartest witch in your year, you sure can be a dumb ass sometimes" – Dumbledore in A Very Potter Musical. I'm a huge fan, as shown by my pen name =)


	5. Chapter 5

Hermione left the common room an hour after the fight. She felt bad for judging Draco earlier. In some ways, he was right: she didn't really know what it was like being a pureblood in the wizarding world. She had come into the world as a Muggle-born. Her side was already picked out for her, but he was right: there was no one forcing her to fight. She fought simply because she believed in the cause – no one was forcing her to by threatening her life. She couldn't imagine what it was like having to fight under the constant threat of death…not just your death, but that of your family too.

She felt bad for judging Draco so harshly and even worse that he must be getting constantly judged by everyone at the school. Most of his friends had had Death Eater parents, and they were on the run with them somewhere in the countryside. He really could have used her as a friend, but she had been too judgmental. She decided to pen him a quick note, as it would be easier than talking to him.

Dear Draco,

I'm so sorry for how our talk ended earlier. I didn't mean for you to feel judged by me. You were right – I really didn't understand your circumstances. I wish I had been more open minded and more of a friend to you.

Sincerely sorry,

Hermione

She left it on his door where he would be sure to see it later and headed out of the room. She walked outside to the Gryffindor common room, hoping to run into Harry and Ron. They were in there, and they had attracted quite a crowd. Ron and Harry were sitting in armchairs by the fire, while the rest of the Gryffindors were gathered around them on the floor. Ron was retelling the story of how he had destroyed Slytherin's locket with the sword of Gryffindor.

"Hey Hermione." Ron waved her over and smiled. Hermione smiled back and walked over to them, sitting to the right of Ron's armchair. As Hermione scanned the group, she was annoyed to see Lavender Brown among them, staring raptly at Ron.

"So anyways, Harry and Hermione had materialized out of the locket in like, this smoky, ghostlike, apparition. They were saying awful things – just the worst I could imagine, stuff like they wanted me gone, I shouldn't have come back…you get the gist. And meanwhile Harry's screaming at me from the ground, he's just screaming, "DO IT RON! DON'T LISTEN TO HIM! DO IT, JUST DO IT! Sometimes when I'm asleep, I can still hear the screaming."

The group laughed and Harry punched Ron on the shoulder. "It wasn't that dramatic, you prat."

"Right," said Ron, winking. "Anyways, I knew I had to do it. I knew I had to destroy the locket. But the conjured Harry and Hermione kept talking to me – taunting me. And then finally they kissed. And then that was when I had had enough. I raised the sword and ran towards the locket screaming. And Harry – Harry was so scared, he thought I was going for him. He ducked his head and threw his hands up like this."

Harry rolled his eyes next to him at the over dramatization, but he decided to let Ron have his moment and remained silent as Ron threw his hands in the air and pretended to cower in fear.

"But I was headed straight for the locket – not a doubt in my mind, I'll tell you. I lifted the sword as high as I could and I swung it down on top of it. The Harry and Hermione thingies disappeared just as soon as I hit the locket, and there was this awful roar. Then the locket broke apart and started smoking…it was destroyed."

"Wow, weren't you scared?" asked Lavender Brown in an awestruck voice.

"Yeh, a little bit." Ron shrugged. "But it was just smoke and ghosts, I knew they couldn't hurt me." Hermione stood up and slid into Ron's lap. "Hey you," said Ron, kissing her as she slid her arms around his neck. Lavender Brown got up in a huff and flipped her hair as she walked away.

"Looks like you have some admirers," she teased, as the remaining crowd dispersed.

"Well what can I say, I'm an admirable guy," said Ron, kissing her neck. "Quidditch tryouts are tomorrow after class. Are you gonna come watch me destroy all the first years?"

"I'd like to try," said Hermione, frowning. "I have a lot of work but I may be able to pop in for a few minutes. You're really the only one I want to watch."

"Don't let Harry hear that," joked Ron.

"Harry hear what?" Harry yelled from across the common room. He walked over to them and as the boys resumed their usual banter, Hermione let her thoughts drift off.

She was still thinking about her training session that morning with Draco. Even though she had been dueling alongside of Harry and Ron for years now, the three of them had never had that type of connection with each other. They hadn't been able to communicate with each other silently, to know what the others would do before they did it, or to use each other's bodies as an extension of their own. She had managed to accomplish that with Draco in one morning. Granted, it was after a week of intense physical and mental training together, but it still threw her for a loop.

She was upset that she had angered him. That wasn't her intention by asking him those personal questions. She was just curious, and she had to admit, slightly judgmental. She vowed to reassess him and to treat him like an equal. Because truth be told, Hermione really didn't know how she would have behaved if she had been born into his situation. She liked to think to herself she would have remained prejudice-free and would still have supported Harry in the war. However, she didn't know for sure. Things would have surely been different.

She felt a sharp jab in her ribs. "Earth to Hermione? Hello?" Ron was poking her in the side and Harry was staring at her, amused.

"What? What are you poking me for?"

"We just asked if you wanted to go to the Room of Requirement with us. I wanted to see if it was still accessible after the fire," explained Harry.

Hermione sighed. "I'm sorry guys, but I don't think I have time today. I need to go to the library and do some research. I have a paper due in Muggle Studies on Wednesday. Shouldn't you both be doing some studying as well? We do have N.E.W.T.s this year, you know…" Hermione trailed off as she eyed them.

Ron snorted. "Hermione, this is Hogwarts. No one here studies except for you!" Harry laughed. Ron pushed Hermione off his lap and stood up. "Hang out with us for a bit," he wheedled. "We won't be gone for too long."

"Yeah, Hermione, please?" Harry mock begged, trying his best to hold a pouty face.

"I'm sorry, I really can't." Hermione sighed as she left the Gryffindor common room with Ron and Harry staring after her, disappointed.

Hermione spent the next week in virtual isolation. Draco had received her letter and accepted her apology, but he wasn't making any effort to go out of his way to talk to her. They maintained a civil relationship outside of their training sessions, but nothing remotely bordering on friendship.

Ron wasn't speaking to her – she had missed his Quidditch tryout. Monday at 3 a.m. Megan had woken both her and Draco up by throwing rocks against the windows of Head Tower. They had sleepily gone to join her, and she led them on a cross-country training session for the remaining hours before class started. Hermione barely made it through her classes that day and then went to the library to work on her paper, falling asleep on top of her books. She slept through dinner and through Quidditch tryouts. Although she apologized profusely to Ron, he could not be consoled. He yelled at her, telling her it was a symbol of their relationship, and that she was approaching their relationship as a one-sided affair. Hermione tried to tell him that she was just over-worked and exhausted, but Ron seemed to think that excuse inadequate.

It didn't help that the rest of the Gryffindor seventh year girls had gone to watch the tryouts, including Lavender Brown. Almost every time Hermione had run into them over the past week she overheard them talking about how many saves Ron had, or how brilliantly he had done. It was enough to drive her mad.

Ginny pretty much sided with Ron in the quarrel, maintaining that she should have made supporting him a priority. Hermione's only ally left was Harry, who remained neutral in their fight. Even though he was still talking to her, Hermione barely got to see him. He was with Ron most of the time, and when he wasn't, her schedule rarely left time for her to seek him out. She managed to run into him alone on the way to Transfiguration on Thursday afternoon.

"Hey Hermione, how are you doing?" he asked.

"I'm okay, I've been better," she said. "This whole thing with Ron is so silly. I feel so bad about missing his Quidditch tryout…I mean, I really wanted to see him play and cheer him on. But I'm just so over-worked and under slept this year. I don't think I have the time available to devote to him that he thinks I should. I don't know how to communicate that to him."

"Well, you know Ron." Harry shrugged. "This is the kind of thing that he'll fume about for a couple days – throwing around words like loyalty, consideration, stuff that makes you feel really bad. Then he'll be completely over it the next day. Just give him his time to stew. He'll realize he's overreacting. I bet he knows deep down you didn't mean it. I wouldn't worry about it too much." Harry smiled at her, rubbing her shoulder supportively.

"I know he's going to get over this incident," said Hermione. "But what about the next time it happens, and the time after that? Are we going to keep having this same fight over and over?"

"I dunno, Hermione. He's used to you two together like you were this summer – spending all your time together, talking about everything at all hours of the day. He's used to the three of us being together…like last year, the three of us were all we had. It might be hard for him to adjust to your new life."

"Speaking of which…" Hermione grabbed Harry's upper arm and dragged him into a nearby broom closet in the school hallway.

"Hermione, what the hell – " Harry exclaimed as she shut them the dark closet.

"I just didn't want anyone to overhear. I want to talk to you about some things – stuff I can't really talk to Ron about. Can you meet me in the empty DADA classroom tonight, around nine or so? Come alone, just tell Ron and Ginny you have some homework to attend to or something."

"I…err, yeah, sure Hermione," said Harry, looking confused. "Whatever you want."

"Okay, good," said Hermione, opening the broom closet. Several people turned curiously to see the couple emerge from the broom closet. "We…got lost," Hermione announced grandly.

"Nice," grumbled Harry. "The last thing Ron needs is a rumor that you and I are hooking up in closets between classes."

"Oh, screw it," said Hermione. "He wouldn't go for that. There he is," she whispered as they walked into Transfiguration. Harry slid into the seat next to Ron and Hermione sighed as Ron pointedly ignored her. She slid into the seat on Harry's other side and played with her wand absentmindedly as class began.

Harry entered the classroom later that night and jumped as Hermione immediately grabbed him by the arm.

"Jeez, Hermione, you could have said something. I almost jumped out of my skin." Harry brushed his robes off. "So what's with all the cloak and dagger business?"

"Harry, I've just needed someone to talk to the past couple of days. It's about Draco – obviously I can't talk to him about it, and if I even mention him to Ron, he'll go ballistic."

"Okay, I could talk about Draco..." Harry said suspiciously.

"It's like this." Hermione turned around and sat on a desk cross-legged, and for a moment Harry was reminded of twelve-year-old Hermione, lecturing him and Ron about how to brew Polyjuice Potion. How complicated things had become in just a few years.

"So I've had to spend a lot of time with Draco this year, seeing as we live together. Harry, you knew how much I used to despise him. Just as much as the two of you."

"Yeah, I remember," said Harry, sitting across from her and leaning on his knees.

"Well, we've had to work together so much the past few weeks, I wanted to figure him out, you know? To see why he wanted to become an Auror. I finally got him to talk to me, and he completely opened up about his family. He said his family had been targeted by Voldemort because of their pureblood status and power, and that Voldemort had threatened to take him away from them when he was a baby if they didn't serve under him. He said that basically his family was under death threats the entire second war – that was why he tried to kill Dumbledore."

"Okay," said Harry slowly. "I guess that makes sense…I don't see what you're getting at, though. Do you suddenly think he's a good person or something? I mean, plenty of other Slytherins had Death Eater parents and didn't torment us during school."

"I'm not excusing everything he did," Hermione said quickly. "I've just come to the realization that maybe I've been judging him too harshly. I mean, this is someone I'm meant to work with this year. Shouldn't I try to get along with him?"

"Yes…" said Harry. "Hermione, is this really what you wanted me to come here to talk to you about?"

"Sort of…" said Hermione. "There's more. On Sunday morning, Megan had us train in an Auror facility. We had to work together as a team and take down another Auror. And working with him…it was just the strangest thing. I felt so connected to him. He could tell what I was thinking, and what I was going to do before I did it. I just felt like I could depend on him…the whole time. And this was Malfoy. Sorry for saying this, but I never felt like that when fighting besides you and Ron. We all had so many screw-ups, so many times where we almost got ourselves killed. None of us ever had that mental connection, where we could communicate without speaking. Malfoy and I…we made a seamless team. Is it wrong that I feel that way?"

Harry ran his hands through his hair. "I dunno, Hermione. Part of me just wants to tell you that it's the difference in experience between Ron and myself and Malfoy. He's started Auror training with you – you both are learning the same things and you're being taught to think the same way. The three of us were basically just running around blind last year. We just made things up as we went along – it's actually nothing short of amazing that we never got killed. So that leads me to think that maybe you and Malfoy are working so well together because you have the same intense kind of training. On the other hand, it's possible that you could work with him better naturally. You, Ron, and myself all have very different personalities, which came out when we worked together. You liked to plan our moves out and know what we were going to do. Ron was impatient and didn't like to have to wait around making plans. And I sort of just came up with ideas on an impulse, or a gut feeling. It's natural that we clashed all the time. Maybe your dueling style really does work better with Malfoy, who knows?"

"I hate the guy. I still hate him, I don't trust him, and I still think he's scum. But if you have the strength to put aside your feelings about all he did to us over the past six years, then more power to you. Especially since you're going to be working with him – it's important that you can cooperate. I think it's great that you've been working so hard to form a strong team with him, I really do."

Hermione smiled. "Thanks Harry, I knew you'd be understanding. Now if only Ron would be the same way…" Hermione's face darkened.

"I wouldn't tell him about this," cautioned Harry. "You've both been fighting a lot lately. If you tell him about this, he will probably just blow up at you."

"Well, he has to be talking to me for me to tell him about it, doesn't he?" Hermione said lightly, hopping off the desk.

"I have one question for you, though, and I want an honest answer. Do you have feelings for Malfoy?"

"No. No, I don't," Hermione said vehemently. "It's not like that, Harry. We're not even friends.

"I know. It's just, you know, something to be careful of."

"I know. I'll be careful. Sorry for dragging you in here," said Hermione as they walked out of the classroom. "I just didn't want any Gryffindors overhearing."

"I understand," said Harry. "And don't stress too much about you and Ron. He cares about you very much. It'll work itself out."

"Thanks Harry," she said, hugging him.

"Anytime." He hugged her back and kissed her forehead supportively. "I'm going to head back to the Gryffindor common room."

"What do you think you're going to end up doing?"

"Oh, I dunno, probably tell Ron all about our little talk." He grinned as Hermione's eyes widened in horror. "I'm kidding! I'm not going to tell him anything."

"Now you almost gave me a heart attack…alright, goodnight Harry. I'll see you tomorrow."

"Goodnight, Hermione." The two parted ways to their respective rooms.

Things between Ron and Hermione didn't improve much over the next week. As Harry predicted, Ron forgave Hermione for missing his Quidditch tryouts. They were talking again, but Hermione could tell that they were both trying too hard to pretend everything was okay. She could sense Ron was still upset about their fight, and her schedule wasn't improving any. Megan's intensity was only increasing as the year went on. Hermione had started wearing her workout clothes under her robes, as Megan would often appear unannounced to take her and Malfoy on impromptu training sessions. She had even started regulating their diet as much as she could – her mantra was that lighter Aurors catch more criminals.

Draco and Hermione maintained a tentative friendship over the next few days. They talked politely about their classes and work – impersonal subjects that were relegated to the safe small talk category. It was nice, but somewhat awkward. However, she felt completely different when working with him during their training.

The connection between them during their training was inexplicable. Hermione had never had such strong mental chemistry with someone before. As Harry had proposed, though, she couldn't tell if it was a product of undergoing the same training or if she was actually connecting with Draco himself. She was beginning to form a strong bond with him and Megan that flourished during their training sessions together. When they worked together, she just felt stripped of all her defenses. She felt like her thoughts and feelings were accessible to everyone who saw her – she hid nothing.

And try as she might, she couldn't deny that there was a physical connection between her and Draco forming as well. She first noticed it that Monday. After missing Ron's tryouts and arguing with him for over an hour, she decided to take a late shower to release some of her pent up anger. She showered in the Head Bathroom and wrapped a white towel around herself as she finished. When she stepped out of the bathroom, she almost collided with Draco as he was heading in to shower. He was half naked – dressed in only boxers and holding a towel. He looked at her searchingly, staring for a few moments too long as Hermione stubbornly met his gaze. He wasn't going to make her feel uncomfortable, even though she was wetter than a drenched rat and completely naked except for a thin layer of terry cloth.

"Pardon," Draco finally said in a low voice, and he sidestepped her as he walked into the bathroom, throwing the towel over his shoulder as he closed the door. Hermione stood there for a moment, stunned. Any other guy she knew would have been flustered and blushing to have run into her practically naked. He just finished undressing her with his eyes and continued on. Hermione shook her head and tried to forget about it.

However, the physical chemistry was growing between them. Hermione took to the habit of wearing less clothing around their tower, noticing that he was following suit. She often caught him sitting at the table shirtless, reading his spell books or the newspaper. Hermione had to say, she was pleased with the way that both of their bodies were changing. He was becoming more broad shouldered and gaining muscle rapidly. His face had become stronger and yet paradoxically more gentle. She felt like she was cutting away the extra layers of flesh and fat that had crept onto her body during her summer of rest and idleness. She was getting rid of the parts of her body that were useless, and instead she was turning into a pure dynamo.

Saturday was the day when she first really noticed her changed reaction to him. She had changed after their lesson and had gathered her spell books from her room to go study in the library. She walked past him in the common chamber where he was stretched out, writing on a piece of parchment.

"What are you doing?" she asked him.

"Owling my parents," he replied. "I want to make sure they're alright."

"Doesn't Megan update you on them practically daily?"

Draco grinned. "Alright, you caught me. I'm adding a postscript where I ask them to send more chocolate frogs. Megan has bloody started intercepting my owls ordering sweets – she's really gone starkers about this whole "you are what you eat" business. Like I'm going to turn into a blithering blobby frog creature. Mad, I tell you."

Hermione giggled at his rant and continued out the door to the library. She wasn't more than five steps away when she realized what had just happened – she had giggled at something Draco Malfoy had said. Had she been flirting with Draco Malfoy?

"Now I've gone mad," she whispered to herself. "It must be the heat." She had to get him out of her mind so she ducked into the bathroom and splashed cold water on her face. She was about to meet Ron to study together and she didn't want to be thinking about Draco while she was with him – it would just give him one more thing to fight with her about.

Sunday Megan rewarded them for their hard work all week with a slightly less intense workout. They remained on the Hogwarts grounds and went for a morning jog around the lake. Afterwards they practiced their fighting techniques. Megan joined in, and the two of them fought against her.

After they quickly pinned her several times, Megan came up gasping for air. "Whew," she said. "I thought I would at least have a chance against you two! But you're destroying me. You both work too well together."

"Good to know we can disable an Auror just in case we piss off our professors next year," Draco said to Hermione. She and Megan laughed.

"Okay you two, let's take a break. Merlin knows I need it." Hermione and Draco sat down in front of Megan, their bodies illuminated by the bright mid morning sun . Megan quickly conjured two cups of water and handed one to each of them.

"I also have a little bit of a surprise today. I have something to give to each of you." She fished in her pockets and pulled out two silver bands. She handed one to each of them. Hermione studied hers – the outside had intricate carvings around it, but the inside was far more interesting. It read "to protect and to serve with truth," and her name was carved after the inscription. She saw Draco reading his as well.

"These are rings to bind an Auror with their student. I'm also wearing the same one." Megan presented her right hand to show them. "I was waiting to give them to you until you had completed your first mission – last week in the training facility at Auror Academy. They are valuable items – if you complete training at the Auror Academy, you will wear them for the rest of the time you serve as an Auror. That's our motto engraved on the inside: to protect and serve with truth."

"The rings aren't just symbolic. They serve a valuable purpose. If you are ever in trouble, you just need to press the ring to your forehead. If you do this, my ring will vibrate and signal me that you're trying to reach me. I can touch my ring to my forehead and it will immediately apparate me to wherever you are. It's an important safety measure – as your mentor, part of my job is to protect you throughout your Auror career. Wear these at all times; you never know when you might need it."

"Cool," said Draco, putting his on his right middle finger. "Thanks, Megan."

"Yes, thank you," said Hermione, putting hers on as well.

"Remember to use them whenever you need me," she said. "I would rather you both be safe than sorry."

"What if we want a sandwich? Can we use it then?" asked Draco. Megan pushed him playfully.

"Then I really will kill you and the giving you the rings will have been in vain. Good work this week, you two. This is the first time I've ever given those rings out – I've never had another student that's lasted this long."

"Maybe cause you chase them down all over campus and make them climb buildings at five in the morning," said Draco snarkily.

"Alright, you do know I can retract ring privileges, right?" said Megan. Draco hid his behind his back. "Anyways, I just wanted to let you both know I'm very proud of you. I hope the rest of this year will be a successful one. Now get out of here, I've had enough of both of you for the day," she joked.

"These rings are sort of corny," said Hermione to Draco, watching Megan out of the corner of her eye. She fiddled with hers around her finger. "They remind me of that Muggle television show, the Wondertwins."

Hermione and Draco stood up and dramatically touched their rings together in the air. "Auror powers activate!" Hermione cried, and Draco laughed.

"I will not take this abuse," Megan called over her shoulder. "Laugh all you want but those rings may save your life someday." Hermione and Draco looked at each other and shrugged, knowing that she was probably right.

Author Notes: The phrase "Hermione, this is Hogwarts. Nobody here studies except for you" is also stolen from A Very Potter Musical, again from Dumbledore =)


	6. Chapter 6

"Hermione, for the four hundredth time, I know that you're busy," Ron exploded as he walked through the portrait hole to the Gryffindor common room. It was Monday night, and Ron and Hermione had made plans to spend time together. However, Hermione had just broken the news to him that she needed to leave soon to coordinate the prefects' schedules with Draco, and Ron was angry at being blown off again.

"It's not even a matter of how busy you are anymore, it's a matter of if you even want to be my girlfriend! This is the one time this week you can make plans to see me, and you have to leave to go work with Malfoy?" Ron spit out. "You see him every bloody second of the day."

"It's not like me and Draco are hanging out, Ron, we only see each other during training," Hermione shot back.

"And since when did he become Draco?" Ron scoffed. "Don't tell me you two are friends now."

"We're not friends, it's just – "

"It's just WHAT?" Ron roared.

"RON, please don't get so defensive," Hermione shouted at him. "Megan made us address each other by our first names – I _have_ to do it. I'm just _trying_ to be cordial with him since I have to spend so much time with him this year."

"I don't hardly understand you this year, Hermione," said Ron. "Last year you would have sworn Malfoy was your hated enemy and you would have avoided him as much as you could. Last year you said Harry and I were the most important people in the world to you. Now we barely see you. It's like we hardly exist!"

"Ron, believe me, I miss you and Harry so much. I wish I could spend more time with you…"

"Hogwash," Ron snorted. "The only thing you care about anymore is being an Auror. You're obsessed with becoming an Auror. That's the only thing you do anymore – training and studying. You're so obsessed with it that you've forgiven Malfoy for all he did to you over the past six years."

"I didn't just 'forgive' him, Ron, we talked about it and he explained what he had been going through at home."

"So that's what it's going to be like, now? You're going to defend him?"

"Ron, stop over-exaggerating."

"I'M OVEREXAGGERATING? YOU'RE THE ONE WHO'S CONSORTING AROUND WITH DRACO MALFOY!" Ron bellowed.

"RON, would you just LISTEN to me for a moment!" Hermione picked up a glass Gryffindor figurine off the common room table and threw it against the wall. It shattered and she stared at it, horrified.

Ron stared at her in surprise. Hermione started towards him, holding her hands out in apology. "Ron, I am so, so, sorry…I don't know what's gotten into me."

"Yeah…I don't either." Ron backed away from her, shielding her with his hands. "Hermione, I don't know if this is a good idea right now. I don't even…you're not even you anymore. "

Hermione sank to her knees on the plush common room carpet. "Ron, I…I didn't mean to lose my temper like that. It's just that I don't even know what to tell you anymore, or how to convince you that I still love you."

"That's it though…I don't want you to have to convince me that you still love me. I want to feel that you do. And right now, I just know that I don't feel that way. It kills me to do this," said Ron, his blue eyes shooting to the floor. Hermione looked up at him, her eyes misting over as she bit her lip to keep it from trembling.

"Hermione, I really think we shouldn't see each other anymore. We will always be good friends, but us dating right now is preventing us from being friends. I want to spend some time apart until I feel like I can rebuild my relationship with you." Ron's voice got shaky towards the end and he took a step towards Hermione. She turned her head away.

"Hermione…are you…are you going to be okay?" Ron took another step towards her, leaning down and reaching for her hands.

Hermione refused to look at him. "Go, please," she whispered, a tear betraying her stony expression as it melted traitorously down her cheek. Ron stayed there, looking at her, until Hermione said, with more force, "Go." Ron walked quietly out of the room, his feet shuffling on the shag carpet.

Hermione waited until he was through the portrait hole until she burst into tears, sobbing ferociously and wiping her eyes with the heels of her hands. She had always assumed that she and Ron would be together forever – they were best friends who had fallen in love. It seemed meant-to-be. And yet not even a year after they started dating, Ron claimed that she had changed so much that he didn't even know if she loved him anymore. The whole situation seemed unreal to her, and she wept for this new change, diving face first onto the carpet and beating her fists against it in helplessness.

She cried until her eyes bulged, puffy from the effort. She buried her face into the carpet and grunted several times – upset that she no longer had tears to shed. However, the initial shock of the breakup was fading away and reality was beginning to set in. Ron was right about one thing – their relationship had changed over the past several months. She wasn't constantly with him anymore, and since her training had started, she had less desire to seek him out.

_Was it the dependence he missed? _Hermione wondered to herself. Throughout their friendship they had constantly been around each other and used each other for friendship and support. Now they no longer did. She knew their relationship had changed but she hadn't realized how much until this very moment. For now, all she could do was hope that Ron would cool off and that they would at least return their friendship to its previous state. Maybe their romantic issues would settle out also.

She glanced out the window to see that night had fallen over Hogwarts. Hermione realized that she was mentally exhausted from the day's turmoil. She left the Gryffindor common room and headed down the hallway to the Head chambers. She paused, turning to her right to look at herself in a mirror hanging off the wall. Her face was gaunt and emotionless, her eyes bloodshot and haggard. She sneered at her reflection. "You look like an animal," she whispered, and turned and walked away. "Cheer up, dearie," one of the portraits called after her, but she ignored it.

She entered the Head chambers and glanced quickly around the common room, checking for Draco. She was in no mood to have to explain her state for him. When she was satisfied he was not in the room, she hurried to her room and closed the door. She flopped on her satin sheets and buried her face in the comforter, falling asleep almost immediately.

That night she dreamt only of Ron. She dreamt of memories of chasing Horcruxes, of their first kiss, of summers at the Burrow. She dreamed he was a dragon, thirty feet tall, chasing her down with flames. But lastly she dreamt he was there with her, but a smug Lavender Brown stood between them. Hermione tried to dodge around Lavender over and over again to get to Ron, but Lavender blocked her each time. Throughout the dream, Lavender taunted her "you can never have him, you can never have him," as Ron remained out of her reach. In the last moments before Hermione awoke, Ron's ginger hair turned to platinum and his eyes to pale blue.

_It's not a silly little moment,  
It's not the storm before the calm.  
This is the deep and dying breath of  
This love that we've been working on._

Can't seem to hold you like I want to  
So I can feel you in my arms.  
Nobody's gonna come and save you,  
We pulled too many false alarms.

We're going down,  
And you can see it too.  
We're going down,  
And you know that we're doomed.  
My dear,  
We're slow dancing in a burning room.

I was the one you always dreamed of,  
You were the one I tried to draw.  
How dare you say it's nothing to me?  
Baby, you're the only light I ever saw.

I'll make the most of all the sadness,  
You'll be a bitch because you can.  
You try to hit me just to hurt me  
So you leave me feeling dirty  
Because you can't understand.

We're going down,  
And you can see it too.  
We're going down,  
And you know that we're doomed.  
My dear,  
We're slow dancing in a burning room.

Hermione awoke the next morning to a tousled mess of red hair in her face. She gasped and backed away from the body lying next to her in bed. Ginny yawned and flipped over.

"Sorry, Hermione. Good morning."

"Blimey, Ginny, you _scared_ me," breathed Hermione.

"I know, I'm really sorry. I came up here earlier to talk to you and was surprised you were still asleep, so I decided to rest while I waited for you to wake up. I didn't think I would fall asleep," Ginny said sheepishly. "Anyways, I came up here because I wanted to apologize."

"Apologize for what?"

"For ignoring you all week and siding with Ron. I just assumed that because he's family I should side with him no matter what. But that wasn't any reason to shut you out or get mad at you. You're like my family too," Ginny said, looking down at the bed. "I felt really badly not talking to you all week – I really missed you. I'm really sorry."

"It's okay," said Hermione. "I know now that I wasn't exactly being fair to Ron."

"He still loves you, you know," said Ginny. "He's just not used to this. He's used to being around you all the time and you being the biggest part of his life. He'll come around, just give him some time."

"I don't know, Ginny. He's right about some stuff. I definitely have changed since starting Auror training – I feel more emotional and honest, and I lost patience. I don't know if this is permanent or just a side effect from the training. But I do know it makes Ron and I less compatible. And that just makes me incredibly sad…I always thought of Ron and I as so perfect for each other, and that nothing could ever change that." Hermione sighed and dropped her head onto the pillow.

"Well…do you miss him?" asked Ginny.

"Yes. I do. A _lot_. But at the same time, not as much as I imagined I would. Maybe we do need some time apart. I know I'm definitely not putting as much effort into our relationship as I should be."

"Do you want me to talk to him for you?"

"No. I think he said everything that needed to be said yesterday. Besides, I'm still too embarrassed about yesterday; I don't want anyone to bring it up to him."

"Why, what happened yesterday?" asked Ginny.

"You didn't talk to Ron about it?"

"No, Harry just told me that you two broke up and I decided to check on you first. He didn't tell me anything about what happened."

"Oh. Well, he was mad because we had plans last night, but I had to cancel because I had a meeting with Draco – which I ended up missing anyways – and I got frustrated because he wasn't letting me explain, so I kind of….lost my temper and threw a glass figure."

"AT HIM?"

"No, not AT him. At the wall. But still."

Ginny let out a low whistle. "Wow, that doesn't sound like you at all."

"Right? That's why I understand where Ron is coming from – I have changed somewhat. And I don't really know why yet."

"Well, maybe it would be good to let you both cool off for the next few days. Let me know if you want me to say something to him though. He's generally a prat when it comes to girls, but you know that."

"Thanks Ginny. And also, thanks for coming to talk to me. I felt really bad about making you angry – I missed you this week."

"I'm sorry, I really shouldn't have avoided you like that. I promise, we'll be friends no matter what happens with you and Ron. Deal?"

"Deal. All right I have class in twenty minutes so I have to get dressed. I'll see you later today though?"

"Okay. Bye Hermione." Ginny exited the Head Chambers. Hermione sighed and walked to her dresser, picking out a simple grey vest and skirt to wear under her robes. At least she had one thing to be thankful for today – Megan was away from Hogwarts, so she and Draco had the day off from working out. She didn't want to imagine what it would have been like seeing Draco and Megan. They would have scrutinized her somber mood and probably asked her questions about what happened. And talking with them about personal matters was much different than talking about it with Ginny.

Hermione grabbed her wand and threw it in her book bag, combing her fingers through her hair. She had become an expert at getting ready for class in minutes, a useful skill on days like these. She stepped out of her bedroom into the common room she shared with Draco, glancing around for him before she shut her door. His door was open, so she was pretty sure he had already left for class. She walked through the tapestry and out the portrait hole.

When she reached Defense Against the Dark Arts, Harry was already in the corridor waiting for her.

"Hi Harry," she said, genuinely surprised to see him waiting for her.

"Hey Hermione," he said, giving her a quick, gentle hug. "Listen, how are you doing?" he asked, holding her at arms' length. "Ron was devastated last night, he was a mess. I was worried about you, but I didn't feel right leaving him."

"I'm okay," Hermione said. "I was really upset last night, and I still am. But I think it's just going to take time to cool off. I'm dreading seeing him in class though."

"I already told him I would sit with you. He's going to sit with Dean. You don't need to be around each other today, it will just be more awkward."

"Thanks, Harry," said Hermione, relieved. "That's a really good idea."

"Yeah. Just stick with me when we go inside," he said, leading her by the arm into the classroom. "He's sitting towards the front on our left with Dean." Hermione followed Harry into the classroom, letting him guide her by the arm as she kept her eyes to the floor. She caught a glimpse of Ron in her peripheral vision, and she could feel his eyes train on her from across the room. She refused to look up to meet them – she didn't know if she could trust herself to keep from crying just yet. Harry led her towards the back of the classroom and picked an empty table in the corner. She sat down and focused on pulling her books out of her backpack.

"Did you manage to finish the reading for today?" Harry asked her as he unpacked Defensive Magic, Year Seven.

"No, but I figured it would be okay. Megan canceled our training for today and told Draco and me that she would be away from Hogwarts. We'll probably just have a substitute today." Almost immediately after Hermione finished her sentence, Megan strolled into the room, as present as ever in shiny dark robes.

"What?" exclaimed Hermione quietly as Harry turned to look at her. "Why would she cancel our training if she was going to be here?"

"Maybe she was only gone for the night and got back early morning."

"Maybe…" Hermione started to speak but was cut off by Megan beginning the lesson.

"Good morning, class. We have a lot to do today, so I'm just going to go ahead and get started. I hope you all have read up on the Memory Erasing Spell, as we will be learning how to perform one today. You will be practicing on your table partner, so make sure to grab a vial of Restoration serum. We don't want any of the effects to be permanent."

Hermione was relieved; she had been performing memory-erasing charms for years now, so the lesson was nothing new to her. It might be nice to have Harry erase her memory for part of the lesson.

The class spread out around the room, and Harry and Hermione turned to face each other, wands drawn.

"You first," said Hermione.

"Okay," said Harry. "Are you ready?" Hermione nodded. Harry raised his wand and shouted, "Obliviate!"

Hermione immediately felt warm and happy. She looked around the room and saw it filled with friendly faces, none of which she really remembered. Her eyes focused on a striking boy with a lithe build, whose wand was raised as he murmured an incantation, blowing his platinum hair out of his eyes. She wondered who he was. A slight boy with thick glasses snapped at her to get her attention.

"Hermione, drink this," he said, shoving a small vial in her hand. She felt as if she could trust him, so she shrugged and downed the vial. Immediately she felt her dour mood return and the faces of her classmates aligned with their names in her mind. She shook her head distractedly.

"Well, did it work?" asked Harry.

"Yeah, I think so," Hermione replied.

"What did it feel like?"

"Pretty much like what you would imagine. I felt really happy, and like everyone in the room was so friendly. I couldn't remember who anyone was though – I didn't even remember you. It's not scary though. It just feels nice."

"Okay, are you ready to try it on me?"

"Please," Hermione joked. She could perform a memory charm in her sleep. She and Harry took turns performing the spell on each other. She was glad it was an easy charm, so she did not have expend energy focusing on the lesson. She could tell Megan sensed that she was distracted, as she could feel her eyes on her often throughout the class.

After class, Harry said goodbye to her and hurried out of the room. Ron walked out after him. She couldn't tell if he looked at her at all. Hermione took her time packing her books carefully and started to leave for her next class. Megan stopped her on the way out.

"Hermione, I wanted to apologize for missing training this morning. I had a mission to complete and I couldn't make it back in time."

"That's okay," said Hermione, smiling a little. She was glad to see Megan, even if she could sense that something was wrong.

"You seemed distracted today. Is everything all right?"

"Well, no. Ron broke up with me last night. I was pretty upset."

"I'm sorry. Do you want a hug?"

"Sure," said Hermione. Megan hugged her, but Hermione felt awkward. She wasn't sure if she was supposed to cry, or let out all of her emotions to her mentor. Megan sensed her hesitation.

"You don't have to tell me any of the details," she said. "I know it's hard to talk about sometimes. Just wanted to let you know that I'll be here for you if you do want to talk. That's what I'm for."

"Okay, thanks," said Hermione, giving a little smile. "I'm okay, really. I know we will be friends again eventually, and that's what's most important."

"Well said. I'll see you again tomorrow, bright and early. You got lucky with your break today!"

"See you tomorrow, Megan," said Hermione, leaving the classroom. She was starting to feel like hiding her sorrow was going to become a full time chore – and she didn't feel like she was doing it very well.

"Conjunctus," Hermione whispered to the dragon portrait. The dragon roared and swung aside to let her enter Head Tower. As she pushed aside the tapestry, she saw Draco sitting on the couch studying. He stared at her for a moment, his platinum hair mussed up.

"Hey," he said simply.

"Hi," she said, sitting in a chair and placing her bag on the floor.

"It's been a while since I've seen you."

"So it has," she said, purposely keeping her replies terse. She didn't want to give anything away.

"So you and Weasley, huh?" he asked, his blue eyes looking surprisingly sympathetic.

"God, how does everyone know already?" Hermione exploded. "Was there some sort of bulletin put out or something?"

"No one told me," said Draco. "It's just that neither of you are really very closed books. Well, you're better than he is, but still. Plus, you weren't sitting together in DADA. It's not exactly mad detective work on my part."

"Stalking me now?" Hermione grumbled.

"Not much. Just enough to notice that you seem more fond of me today when your memory was erased."

"Probably true of most people here at Hogwarts."

"Well played," said Draco, smiling a little. "But seriously, are you okay? I know everyone's probably asked you today and you're probably tired of talking about it. But you can say whatever you want to me, you know I won't tell him."

Hermione stared at him. "What's your angle?"

"Nothing, I promise. Just trying to be nice."

"Okay. Well, I'm sad, sure. But I think it's more about the fact that something is changing rather than the fact that we aren't together anymore. You know? I think somewhere along the way this year, I fell out of love with him. I just continued to love him as a friend. And I didn't realize the difference until Ron pointed it out. All in all, I think it's probably good that we're taking a break right now." Hermione twirled a piece of her hair around her finger absent-mindedly as she spoke. Draco stared at her intently.

"That's too bad. About the falling out-of-love part, I mean," said Draco.

"Yeah. Well he was right: I changed. I'm not the same person I was when we started dating. Don't you feel like you've changed since the beginning of this year?"

"Yeah, definitely. It's hard for me to explain…but I feel like I think more about my emotions, and I allow myself to feel them more completely."

"That's a good way of putting it. I let them control me like I never did before – last night when I was arguing with Ron, I threw a glass Gryffindor at the wall."

Draco stared at her. "Seriously."

Hermione nodded sheepishly. "That's awesome! Well, not awesome. But it would have been cool to see you get that angry."

"I've definitely been that angry at you before, Draco."

"Yeah, but you usually just curse me. It would have been awesome to just have you hurl something at me."

"I'll keep it in mind." Hermione rose from her chair and grabbed her book bag. "I need to go to bed. I'm mentally drained from talking to everyone about Ron today. Well, at least today was probably the worst it'll get. Right?"

"Right," said Draco, picking up his book. "Goodnight, Hermione."

"Goodnight Draco. And, thanks for talking to me."

Draco peered at her from over the top of his book. "Anytime. I like talking to you. And I'm actually not lying, cross my heart."

"Sweetest thing you've ever said."

"I'm a regular teddy bear."

"Sod off," Hermione grinned as she shut her door. She lay down on her bed and fell asleep almost immediately, a slight smile playing across her lips.


	7. Chapter 7

Although Megan was there the next morning for Hermione's and Draco's training, she was absent for the majority of the next two weeks. After her third day of missing their morning training, Megan began encouraging Draco and Hermione to practice on their own.

"I'm sorry, you two," she said. Her head was floating in the fireplace of Head Chambers. She was speaking with them from Auror Headquarters while in the middle of a mission. "I didn't know this would take up this much time. You know what to do, though. Just practice sparring for a while. I promise it won't take much longer – and I'll really amp up our intensity when I get back."

It was the second week that Megan had been absent, and Hermione was jogging after Draco through the dewy cold English morning. The woods were wet from a storm the night before, but the air was still humid enough to make Hermione sweat copiously. She glanced over at Draco, running on her left, and noticed that the sweat was dripping off of his forehead into his eyelashes, where it hung there. He caught her staring.

"What?" he asked, puffing out the word.

"Nothing," she said, focusing her eyes straight ahead. They ran in silence until they reached the meadow where they stopped to stretch. The sun peered out of the clouds, making a rare appearance that day as it beat down on their backs.

Draco's mouth was open as he swung his arms around his body, loosening his muscles. He had taken his shirt off earlier during their run, and Hermione no longer had enough of an incentive to stop staring at him. His body was still pale, but impossibly lean and muscled. His shoulders were now broad and strong looking. Hermione openly admired his body in the rising morning sun.

She knew he could tell that she was looking at him, but she had no reason to feel ashamed. She caught him looking at her enough times as well. Draco began walking over towards her, and Hermione locked eyes with him, her heart racing. He stopped a foot away from her, and she had to look up in order to maintain eye contact. Her lips parted and she let out an inaudible breath.

"Ready?" he asked her.

"Ready?" she said, taken off guard. "For what?"

"Sparring," he said, wrinkling his nose.

"Oh, right," she replied, shaking her head. She turned around and took two steps away from him, facing him and dancing on her feet with her hands up. "You go first. I'll defend."

"Hermione, you're not doing it right," said Draco, as Hermione swung at him with her left hand.

"What are you talking about? This is the way I always do it," she grunted, as he easily blocked her and knocked her hand away.

"I know, you always do it wrong," Draco replied, ducking her next few punches.

"I do not, Megan would have said something."

"She does!" Draco said, dodging to his left. "Here, stop for a second. I'm going to teach you how to hook properly with your left."

"Bloody hell, Draco, I'm not doing it wrong," Hermione sighed, throwing her arms up in frustration.

"It's not completely wrong. I'm just going to show you how to do it to get you more power behind it. Your left arm is weaker than your right, so you need to compensate by changing your form to make the hit stronger." Draco moved behind her and gently grabbed her arm, positioning it behind her as if she was about to take a punch. Hermione was acutely aware of his bare chest pressed against her back and his breath hitting her neck softly. His sweat mingled with hers as he aligned their bodies together. As he moved her arm further back to demonstrate the form he was talking about, Hermione suddenly got nervous.

"Draco, the way I'm doing it is just fine," she said, stepping out of his grasp and turning to face him. "If Megan wants to say something to me about it when she gets back, she will. Now can we just practice what we already know?"

Draco shrugged his shoulders. "Sure," he said, putting his fists up indifferently. The two were mostly silent for the rest of the workout, and they jogged back to Hogwarts together. The sun had disappeared behind a cloud again, and a light rain had started to fall. They hurried through the main doors together, but had already suffered the beginning of the downpour. They walked back to Head Tower together, their sweaty and half naked bodies garnering stares from the few students already up and walking about the castle.

"After you," Draco motioned to Hermione after they nearly collided, both trying to get up the stairs at the same time. Hermione climbed the steps in front of him, vaguely aware that Draco was getting the perfect view of her spandex-covered ass as they trekked back to their chambers. She opened the portrait hole and they climbed through, plopping down on the couches inside in silence.

After a few moments, Hermione spoke. "Hey, I'm sorry, I know you were just trying to help."

"I wasn't trying to sound like a know-it-all, you know," said Draco sullenly. "I was just trying to help."

"I know," said Hermione. She couldn't explain why she hadn't wanted him to touch her at that moment – that she had felt weird feeling him that close against her. "Could you show me now?"

"Sure," said Draco. He grabbed a towel from the bathroom and mopped his face quickly, then returned to Hermione.

"Alright," he said, positioning himself behind her. He gently lifted her arm and pulled it back into a cocked position, and closed his fingers around hers to form a fist. "So this is how you would normally do it, with your right arm. But you can give a hook more power if you turn your fist slightly, like this." He turned her fist in his, demonstrating the correct position. "And then you have to also turn your arm, a bit like this." He moved her arm slowly in the motion, pulling it back several times to demonstrate it thoroughly. Hermione took her arm from his grasp and turned to face him.

"And this will give me more power in my left hook?"

Draco nodded. "Definitely. Go ahead and try it out on me."

"Ok." Hermione jumped slightly and Draco crossed his arms to defend against her. She tried the new left hook several times and succeeded in hitting him on the right arm twice.

"See?" said Draco. "It makes you a little quicker, too."

"Bullocks, you just wanted me to land one so it seems like you taught me a good technique," Hermione joked. "Why don't you really try to defend against me?"

"Oh, you want me to actually try?" Draco grinned. "Prepare for a world of pain."

"I'd like to see you block me," Hermione said, and quickly swung back for a surprise attack. Draco grabbed her wrist before she hit him, and Hermione let out a quiet yelp at his sudden strength. She tried to surprise him with her other arm, but he grabbed that one too. He slowly backed her up against the wall and pinned her arms there, behind her. Hermione looked into Draco's eyes in surprise. His face was only inches away from hers, his blue eyes dark and unreadable. They stayed like that for several seconds, staring at each other but only touching by their hands.

Hermione saw Draco's lips part, and she could see his teeth. He loosened his grip against her wrists, and Hermione seized her moment. She impulsively stood on her toes and pressed her lips against his, tasting the salt from his sweat. She felt him recoil slightly in surprise, but he bounced back, pinning her against the wall now with his whole body. The bare skin from their stomachs rubbed together.

Draco grabbed her under her ass and picked her up. Hermione wrapped her legs around him strongly. Their lips mashed together desperately, their teeth clicking together periodically. Hermione heard Draco sigh softly deep in his throat as his hands desperately roved her body – they were everywhere, first down her legs, then across her stomach, lightly skimming her breasts and finally settling in her hair. She wrapped her hands in his hair as well, clenching it between her fingers.

He worked his tongue between her lips in a surprisingly languid manner that clashed with the frantic pace of their kisses. She answered it with her own tongue, gently running it across his teeth. She hadn't previously tried to imagine what he would taste like, but if she had she would have been right – he tasted mainly like salt, almost a little bit like seawater. His scent and body was so masculine he made her insides throbbed. She knew she wanted him, right here, in the moment.

Her hands roamed quickly from his tousled hair to the waistband of his shorts. She tugged at it awkwardly, indicating to him what she wanted. He pulled his mouth from hers to rapidly pull his shorts off, then removing her bra from her body and flinging it across the shared chambers.

Draco looked uncertain as to how to proceed, and Hermione tipped his head to lock eyes with her. She gave him permission with his look, and without breaking eye contact with her, he pulled her shorts off and moved against her. She could feel his cock impossibly hard on her thigh, and she sighed in anticipation. Wrapping her arms around his neck, she let him lift her off the ground and press her against the wall as he grinded against her, making her wet. Draco buried his face against her neck and kissed her there over and over until she moaned, whispering "please" against his ear.

With that he moved himself inside her. She gasped at how perfectly he fit inside her. His bare cock inside her felt so raw and animal. He grunted into her neck and pushed her against the wall as he thrust inside her.

She moaned as she felt the sweat from his forehead on her neck. He thrusted into her harder, encouraged by the lubrication dripping from her wetness. She hugged him around his head, holding on as he increased their pleasure with long, frequent strokes. He suddenly pushed his hand against her clitoris as she moaned in surprise. He slowed down his thrusts as he moved his thumb against her, burying his head against her neck as he listened to her moans while he moved inside her.

Draco took control, increasing his pace with both his thrusts and his strokes as he listened to Hermione's wails and sighs of pleasure. She dug his nails into his back and bit down on his ear, feeling the waves of pleasure slowly building. Suddenly, she felt herself getting close. She moved herself against his hand even more quickly, whispering in his ear "I'm coming," as it hit her. She bucked against his hand, crying out and breathing in short pants. She rode his cock desperately, feeling pleasure hit her and ride up through her body. Draco waited till she was finished and then quickly increased his strokes, biting down on her shoulder and coming soon after with a startled gasp and an almost surprised look.

Afterwards, he pulled out of her slowly and let her down onto the floor. Hermione stood there with her back against the wall as they both breathed heavily, each looking at the other still naked. She was almost afraid to speak – now that the moment was over, she didn't know how to proceed.

Draco clearly didn't either. He was standing there, looking at her like she had grown another head. He reached out and wiped some of the sweat off her forehead, then took a step towards her. He looked down at her, like he was about to kiss her on the lips, but kissed her on the cheek instead.

"I'll, umm…I'll see you later, Hermione," he said, and with that he left to go to his room.

Hermione quickly gathered her clothes and retreated to her room as well. What had she just done? One thing was for sure: she had definitely changed.

Hermione made up her mind to ignore Draco for the next few days. She really didn't know how to process what had just happened between them, and she didn't feel up to having a long, heavy conversation about it. She was afraid she'd blurt out something stupid, or that it would get awkward. So she would just let Draco be for the time being.

She was pretty sure he was avoiding her too, because she didn't see him in their chambers for the next four days. The two trained by themselves also, since Megan had not yet returned from her mission.

Hermione busied herself with other things. Since Megan was gone, she was able to operate more on her own schedule, and she found more time to see Harry and Ginny. She even sat down to dinner with Ron and Harry one night. Although Ron and Hermione barely spoke, just the minimal courtesies, she felt it was the opening they needed to start rebuilding their friendship.

Since she was spending less time in Head Tower, she revisited her old haunt, the Hogwarts library. Hermione felt rested and caught up on her studies. The library was a continuing place of solace for her, and she began to feel like her old self as she spent time there.

Unfortunately, Megan was to return the next day, which meant she would have to face Draco in the morning. She dreaded their first encounter – she didn't know how he would react to seeing her for the first time after their tryst. She was worried it would be uncomfortable. She was even more worried that Megan would be able to tell that something was up between them – she didn't miss a thing.

Hermione woke up too early for their workout the next morning and spent a long time in the bathroom shower. She splashed water on her face, trying to convince her mind that today was just a normal day and that she and Draco would be fine around each other. It didn't work.

She wrapped her towel around her chest and headed back to her room, discreetly making sure Draco hadn't entered the common room while she was showering. She pulled out her top dresser drawer and rummaged around through her exercise clothes before settling on her least revealing top: a loose tank top that went well below her hipbones. She threw on some sloppy gym shorts for good measure.

When she couldn't wait any longer, Hermione left Head Tower and headed down to the grounds to wait for Megan and Draco. To her surprise, they were already there and looked entrenched in a serious conversation. When they saw her, Megan jerked her head up and smiled.

"Hey, Hermione," she called, waving. "It's good to see you again."

"Hey Megan, you too," Hermione smiled back. "Morning Draco."

Draco smiled back at her. "Good morning."

_That wasn't too bad_, Hermione thought to herself. _We aren't being too friendly, but it's not really obvious either._

"So, unfortunately for you both, my absence means that you two are going to have to work even harder for the next few days. It'll be fun though, I have some interesting stuff planned. But first, we have to warm up. Follow me!"

Megan took off running through the woods and Draco and Hermione followed after her. They ran for a long time, almost an hour, before Megan brought them to a small pond. The pond looked disgusting: it was mainly a murky brown color, and there was thin film of algae and various slime coating the top layer. She could see schools of tadpoles rippling the surface, and the pond as a whole looked stagnant and toxic.

"Looks great, huh?" breathed Megan. Hermione and Draco stared back at her, unsure of how to reply nicely. "No I'm just kidding. It's rather unpleasant. Just like today's lesson – as an Auror you don't ever get to pick where you go. You often get assignments in poor weather, foul areas, or in difficult places to reach. So today we are going to practice around this little pond. Your first task is this: I hid ten rings at the bottom of the pond, five silver and five gold. Draco, you are to retrieve the silver rings and Hermione, the gold."

Hermione really didn't mind the task – she was pretty sure that Megan knew she was accustomed to much worse while fighting Voldemort with Harry and Ron. However, she didn't think Draco would enjoy the task very much. She looked over at him and wasn't surprised – he was curling his lip and barely hiding his disgust.

"Ready?" called Megan. "Bring them back to me as fast as you can. On your mark, get set, go!"

Hermione plunged head first in the water in a pretty good swan dive. Mid-air she saw Draco plugging his nose in preparation for the jump. She hit the water and immediately the foul stench of the pond filled her nostrils. It wasn't very deep, probably only seven feet or so throughout, but the water was very murky and the visibility was poor. She didn't find her first ring until she was less than three feet away from it. She grabbed it hurriedly and put it on her finger, shooting up for air. She gulped down the air hurriedly and returned to the bottom of the pond.

The next three rings were found quickly, but the last proved to be a challenge. She had to return to the bottom many times before she found it. Once, not looking where she was going, she collided into Draco. They looked up at each other in surprise, and Draco squeezed her fingers briefly before swimming in another direction. Hermione's fingers tingled where they had come in contact with his.

She finally found her last ring in the muddy bank of the pond, nestled into the side. She rose from the water, flashing the five rings on her finger.

"Good, Hermione," said Megan. "You clearly have no problem getting dirty." Hermione started for a second, wondering if there was a double entendre in her words, but Megan seemed oblivious and gave her a thumbs up.

Hermione crawled out of the pond and stood dripping next to Megan, admiring the golden rings on her fingers as they waited for Draco to finish. He didn't take much longer than Hermione to find his fifth and final ring – for all the disgust he felt at the task, he was good at pushing it aside and working through it. Hermione stroked the back of her hand where he had squeezed it as he walked over to them on the edge of the pond.

"That was great," said Megan. "It's not an incredibly hard task, but one that most are reluctant to do. During your first few years as an Auror, you rank at the very bottom of the totem pole. You often get assigned the very grungiest, most tedious tasks, since no one else wants to do them. It blows, but it's what you're going to have to be willing to do. This task was meant to get that point across to you."

"Next we're going to go back to sparring, but this time you'll have to do it in the lake. Fighting conditions aren't always ideal, and you might have to pursue a target into a lake or another body of water. So…let's practice!"

Hermione and Draco both got back in the lake and stood at a point that hit them both about at the hips. "Hermione, you go first," Megan called. "Draco, you defend against her."

Fighting in the pond was tough work, but it was kind of fun. The water was cool and a change from their usual routine. However, Hermione noticed that she and Draco were skipping the usual banter they had between them while they fought. She missed his taunts – even though they were playful, they usually spurred her on. Today their conversation could best be described as cordial.

After a little while Megan let them back out of the water. "Okay, good work today you both. I need to be off, but you should run back to the castle and shower before class."

"Actually," Draco said, "can I talk to you for a second? Hermione, I'll catch up with you on the way back."

"Okay," said Hermione, puzzled. Draco looked at her, waiting for her to leave, which she did. After running a few paces, she looked over her shoulder. Draco and Megan again appeared engaged in the same type of serious conversation she had interrupted earlier that morning. She wondered for a fleeting second if it was related to what had happened between her and Draco the week prior, but she shrugged off that thought. Draco wouldn't discuss something that private with Megan. She assumed it was something about training.

However, she couldn't help but wonder about it more on the way back home, and startled several rabbits on the path as she got lost in her thoughts.


	8. Chapter 8

Draco didn't happen to catch up with her on her way back to the castle, which was just as well. She wanted to make it to the Great Hall in time to catch Harry and Ginny before they left for the class. She quickly jumped in the shower and cleaned off, then threw on a simple outfit under her robes and grabbed her packed book bag on the way out of Head Tower.

She hustled down to the Great Hall, where everyone was already sitting down to eat. Harry and Ginny welcomed her warmly, while even Ron smiled and gave her a "hello." The dining hall was bustling, much more than usual at this early hour, and each table was humming with conversation.

"What's going on?" Hermione asked her friends. "Why is everyone so…active at this hour?"

"You don't remember?" Ginny said. "McGonagall is supposed to be making a special announcement this morning. They told us about it in first hour classes last week."

Hermione vaguely remembered hearing something about an announcement in Arithmancy, but assumed she had just brushed it off since she usually couldn't make it to the Great Hall in the mornings anyways. "Right. What's it supposed to be about?"

"No one knows yet," offered Ron, "but everyone's trying to guess. My bet is that they're transferring half the first years to Durmstrang." Because everyone had to repeat their last year of Hogwarts, no one had moved up a year. However, a new batch of first years had come in to Hogwarts, per tradition, so now the first year class had doubled in size. This had led to problems within the school with classroom size, number of teachers, and space in the dormitories.

"And I'm telling him he's _mad_," said Ginny. "There's no way they would do something like that, let alone announce it in the dining hall. It would be pandemonium with all the first years breaking down into sobs. I'm guessing it's some good news. My professor sounded relatively happy about the announcement."

"Well, I hope it is," said Hermione. "I could do with some good news." At this statement, Ron looked rather guilty, so Hermione hurriedly added, "I didn't mean to be so gloomy; it was just a long morning." Ron buried himself into a bowl of porridge and Hermione mentally kicked herself for carelessly making it awkward between them, right after they had spoken directly for the first time in days.

Before Hermione could start brooding, though, McGonagall entered the Great Hall, flanked by the Heads of the Houses: Flitwick, Sprout, and Slughorn (who had replaced Snape). The head of Gryffindor was still McGonagall, as they hadn't picked a replacement yet. An immediate hush fell over the hall, and everyone sat down quickly to get a better view of McGonagall standing at the front.

"Good morning, everyone," she said grandly, opening her arms to gesture towards the seated students. "I'm sure you're all very excited about the announcement I have for you today, so I'm not going to waste much time with preamble. In honor of the final battle held last year at Hogwarts, the three magical schools have decided to hold a winter ball in December. And the ball will be hosted by Hogwarts."

At this the students broke out into an excited flurry of murmurs and giggles. McGonagall waited silently until students started shushing each other, eager to hear more about the ball.

"We will be having it at the end of November, right before the end of the term and before finals period begins. Yes, we are still having finals this year," she replied to the few groans that had arisen from the crowd.

"It will be a formal affair, so dress robes are mandatory for both gentleman and ladies. Students from Beauxbatons and Durmstrang will also be in attendance. This is a great opportunity for you all to make new friends and to foster relationships within the magical community. We hope that it will restore peace to the wizarding world after the events of the last few years. It will be called – the Unity Ball. I hope to see you all there!"

With that, McGonagall turned and left the Great Hall, the other teachers following her closely. Ginny let out a squeal.

"Oooh I was hoping it would be something like this! I can't WAIT. Harry, we're going to have to get color coordinated dress robes!" She squeezed his hand and Hermione caught Ron rolling his eyes from across the table. She smiled back at him.

"I think it's a great idea," said Hermione, "to bring the wizarding schools together again so quickly after the war. Might as well start promoting international magical cooperation early."

"Yeah, well, couldn't we do that without a full night of dancing and dressing up like a prat?" Ron grumbled as he and Harry stood and left the breakfast table.

Ginny looked slightly let down by the boys' response, so Hermione scooted next to her on the bench and put her arm around her shoulders. "They're just stubborn because they don't want to admit they actually like wearing their dress robes," she joked, earning a small smile on Ginny's lips.

"Yeah, I know, I can't expect Harry to be super excited about it. I bet he will have a great time regardless." Ginny turned to face Hermione. "Who are you going to go with?"

Hermione bit her lip. She had been wondering the very same thing ever since the announcement. "I might need your input on that, Ginny. Can you come to my room later tonight?"

"Of course. After classes?"

"Yeah, that sounds good. Arithmancy ends at 5:00."

"Okay, I'll see you then." Ginny gave Hermione a quick hug, and then got up from the bench and left, her long red hair swishing behind her. Hermione decided to leave for class as well, and grabbed her book bag as she stood up from the bench. On her way out of the dining hall, she noticed Draco hurrying in, his hair still wet from his shower. They locked eyes for a moment, then Hermione turned her head away.

"Shake it off," she murmured to herself.

Usually Hermione loved Arithmancy. She had always been good with numbers, even back in muggle school. The math class translated well between the two cultures, and it was the most logical and rational of her magical studies.

But today it was excruciatingly long and boring. Professor Vector was positively droning on and on, and Hermione couldn't pay attention. She ruffled the feather top of her quill and ran it across her lips, distracted. She wasn't sure how she was going to tell Ginny about what had happened. Ginny was just like Harry and Ron in that she hated Draco – and nothing was going to change that. However, Hermione really needed to talk to someone about her situation – and Ginny was her best bet.

Hermione spent the rest of the class fabricating different methods in which to tell Ginny, but all of them seemed to lead to Ginny ending up mad at her for betraying them. She hoped Ginny would be able to feel compassion for her situation and not just storm off angrily.

Professor Vector finally released them, and Hermione breathed a sigh of relief. She packed her schoolbag, making small talk with the Ravenclaw girl who sat next to her about the upcoming ball.

Upon leaving the classroom, Hermione bee lined for Head Tower. Ginny was waiting for her outside the portrait hole.

"Hey, I thought I'd wait for you out here," said Ginny, "in case Draco happened to be inside." She rolled her eyes and Hermione mentally noted that this might be even harder than she had thought.

"Conjunctus," she said, choosing to ignore Ginny's comment, and the two girls headed inside. They entered Hermione's room, and Ginny flopped down on the bed, spreading herself out on the satin sheets.

"It's almost worth busting your bum for six years of school to get this bedroom seventh year," she said, rolling around with a pillow. "It's positively luxurious."

"Yeah," Hermione laughed, "if only I got to use it more! I think I've been averaging four hours of sleep a night this year."

"Oh, the life of a Head Girl," teased Ginny, rolling on her stomach and hugging a red pillow. "Anyways, what's up? You don't know who to take to the ball?"

"Yeah, pretty much," said Hermione. "Although it's more complicated than that. I have to tell you more about the situation – this is something I haven't told anyone yet. But you have to promise – _promise_ – that you will hear me out before getting upset about it."

Ginny's face immediately turned stormy. "You didn't cheat on Ron, did you?"

"No, nothing like that," said Hermione. "Will you give me your word? I'll understand if you're still upset at the end, but just give me a chance to explain."

"Okay…" said Ginny warily.

"So last week, Draco and I slept together." Hermione paused when she saw Ginny contort her face into a look of disgust. "He's different now, Ginny. We've gotten closer since the year has progressed, and he's kinder and talks to me about my feelings. He's really much better than he used to be. But anyways, that happened last Thursday. We haven't really talked since then – just the one time we had to train together. It's been really awkward."

"Ugh…I'm still trying to wrap my head around the fact that you slept with _Malfoy_," Ginny spit out. "It's impossible for me to think of him as anything but a slimy git. I'm not mad at you though; you and Ron are broken up so you're free to hook up with whoever you want. Are you trying to tell me that you want to go to the ball with Malfoy?"

"No. That's the thing. I don't want to go with Draco because Harry and Ron would never forgive me. I also know it would hurt Ron more than anyone else I could possibly go with, and there's no way I would do that to him. But the other side of it is, I don't want to go with Ron because then Draco might think we are getting back together."

"Umm," said Ginny, "I see what you mean. You should probably just do something completely neutral."

"What do you mean?"

"You know, go with a friend. Someone that wouldn't make anyone jealous either way. I know who you should ask – you should go with Neville. He's seeing a girl from his hometown who is a muggle, so he won't have anyone to go with either. And Ron knows that, so there's no way he'll get upset."

Hermione snapped her fingers. "Ginny, that's perfect. Of course I should go with Neville. I'll have to find him and ask before someone else does."

"Well that was easy," said Ginny. "But now of course I have to ask – you don't want to make Malfoy jealous either…are you actually into him?"

"I don't know yet," Hermione admitted. "Sometimes I think I really could be. He's changed a lot this year, and we work really well together as a team. Other times I just think it's physical attraction and sexual tension from always being around each other. And plus, it would be so hard for anything substantial to happen between us. Everyone would be so against it, it probably wouldn't even be worth it. But I definitely feel something for him – I just have to figure out what exactly that is. Unfortunately it's been pretty awkward between us since last Thursday. We've both been avoiding each other, and this morning was pretty much the first time I saw him since."

"Well, why does it have to be awkward?" asked Ginny. "You should just talk to him about it – he's probably just as confused as you. You both live in the same space, for crying out loud! Leave him a note!"

"I don't know, it's just not really the way we function together," Hermione said thoughtfully. "It's hard to explain. Hopefully things will start returning to normal soon."

"Okay…" said Ginny doubtfully. "I wouldn't even want to try to comprehend the inner workings of the Malfoy mind."

"He might be more like you or I than you think," said Hermione. "It's actually pretty difficult to be a person comprised of _pure_ evil."

"Hey, Voldemort did it," Ginny said sarcastically, lightly hitting Hermione in the shoulder with the pillow.

"Hey!" Hermione cried, snatching her own and tagging Ginny back. The two girls hit each other once more and burst out laughing.

"Seriously though, thanks for your help with this," said Hermione. "I've actually been dying to talk to someone about this, but I knew there was no way it would fly with Harry or Ron. And I wasn't sure about you either – I had visions of you stalking out of my room, calling me a traitor, and running to tell Harry and Ron. Thanks for being there for me."

"Anytime. I can't promise I'll keep my lunch down when we talk about it," Ginny made a face. "But I'll try my best. You have good character judgment, so I bet you're right about him changing. Or about him being not such a bad guy in general. Maybe he'll start acting that way around the rest of us."

"I bet he already has," Hermione said, smiling. "Let's go grab dinner." The two girls slid off the bed and walked out through the tapestry.

"So, are you going to ask Neville tonight?" Ginny asked.

"Definitely, if I can find him," she said. "I hope he's okay with the idea."

"I'm sure he will be," Ginny answered. "He's going to want to go, even if he can't bring his girlfriend. And you two have been friends for so long, I'm sure he'd be happy to go together."

"I'm kind of nervous to ask!" Hermione giggled. "This is odd."

"It's probably cause he got really hot last year," Ginny joked. Hermione nodded in agreement – Neville was one of the lucky few that really blossomed during the year of the war. He became taller and more broad shouldered, and his face lost its puppy fat and his nose lengthened. He was really quite handsome now, although Hermione would never really see him in that light.

"Everyone's going to be jealous that I have the most dashing date at the ball," Hermione said with a grin. They arrived at the dining hall and spotted the Gryffindor table. Harry was sitting with Dean, Seamus, and Neville, and Ron was nowhere to be seen. The two girls slid across from the boys.

"Hey guys, where's Ron at?" said Ginny, squeezing Harry's hand.

"Not sure yet, haven't seen him in a bit," replied Seamus, adjusting his collar.

"If I know him, he'll be down as soon as he can," said Harry. "Did you both get to talk about _the ball_ all afternoon?" He imitated a girly voice and batted his eyes, teasing his friends.

"Yes," said Ginny, "and we figured out exactly what we're going to make you wear."

"Hah," said Harry, "just try it."

"Unfortunately for you," said Hermione sweetly, "my magic is stronger than yours. You may not have a choice."

The other boys at the table laughed at Harry as he rolled his eyes. "You wouldn't."

"If it's funny enough I might. Speaking of the ball, Neville, would you go with me? If you don't have a date yet."

Neville turned to Hermione, surprised. "Sure Hermione, I'd love to go with you. That sounds like a lot of fun!" Now it was Neville's turn to bear the brunt of the teasing as the other boys made kissing noises at them.

Hermione grinned and turned to look at Ginny, but she was staring at the front of the Great Hall with her mouth slightly hung open, he freckles standing out against her face which had gone slightly pale. Hermione turned to see what Ginny was looking at.

Ron had just appeared at the entrance of the Great Hall, but he wasn't alone. Lavender Brown was with him, holding his hand and leaning on his shoulder. She was whispering something in his ear that he was smirking at. Her long blonde hair swung around her shoulders as she tossed her head, proud that everyone was seeing her on Ron's arm.

Hermione's face went ashen and she quickly averted her eyes, looking down at her lap. She felt her eyes burn as they begun to swim with tears. Harry, Ginny, and the rest of the boys were now all looking at her.

"Hermione, are you okay?" Ginny asked under her breath. "We can leave if you want."

Hermione nodded her head, biting her lip. She didn't want to leave and give Ron the satisfaction. She raised her head to the table, seeing that Ron and Lavender had chosen to sit far away on the girls' side of the table. At least she was spared from seeing them together up close.

Dean and Seamus were quick to chime in. "Pfft, Lavender?" Dean said. "She's a joke. There's no way he's actually into her, he probably just likes the attention."

"Yeah, he said after they broke up that she was the worst girlfriend he could have imagined," Seamus added. "He's probably just using her to make you jealous."

Hermione smiled wanly. "You don't have to do this to make me feel better, guys," she said. "We're broken up, he can see whoever he wants." She still felt a little better though, thanks to the guys' attempts. They made jokes about Ron and Lavender for the remainder of dinner. One time Hermione burst out laughing so hard that she had to clutch her side. She saw Ron glance her way from his side of the table, but she looked away.

_Let him look all he wants_, she thought smugly.

Hermione entered Head Tower and pushed aside the tapestry to the common room, only to find Draco inside toweling off his hair. She stopped in her tracks – this was the first time she had seen him in their living quarters in nearly a week.

He was caught off guard too. When he saw her, his mouth went slightly agape. She suddenly became very aware of the fact that he was almost entirely naked, except for a towel.

Draco broke the silence first. "Hey," he said simply.

"Hi," said Hermione.

"So…how have you been?"

"Good. You?"

"Good. You?" Draco paused. "We did you."

Hermione was driven by a desire to make it less awkward between them, but she wasn't anywhere near ready to admit whatever sort of feelings she had to Draco. She decided to go with a middle ground. "Listen, I don't think there's any reason to feel weird about what happened between us. We're both adults, and we have urges, and we're around each other all the time nearly half naked." Hermione felt flustered and like she was gesturing too wildly with her hands, but she pressed on. "It was bound to happen, it was just nature taking its course. So I don't think either of us should have to feel weird about what happened. Right?" She cringed at how juvenile she sounded.

"Sure," said Draco slowly, throwing the towel around his shoulders. "You're a beautiful girl. I've always thought so."

"Really?" asked Hermione softly.

"Yeah. And it's obvious you would find me attractive," joked Draco.

"Shut up," Hermione said, relieved that they were falling back into their own patterns. "So you didn't feel weird around me at all?"

"No, I did," said Draco. "I guess I felt guilty – I felt afterwards like maybe you would regret what had happened and would want to distance yourself from me, like maybe it was only okay in the spur of the moment and afterwards you would really regret it. But I didn't, I had a good time."

"Thanks, I guess," said Hermione, feeling awkward.

"We should have talked about it sooner," said Draco. "I'm sorry. I should have done that much."

"Well, I didn't either," said Hermione. "It took us bumping into each other randomly to finally get it out. So, friends again?"

"Friends," Draco replied.

Inside, Hermione was disappointed though. She had made it impossible to bring up any inkling of feelings between the two of them, with their new assertion of solely physical attraction between them both.

"Can I have a hug?" Draco asked, holding his arms out.

"You like hugs?" Hermione asked, incredulous.

"Yeah, just think of it as making up for all the ones I didn't get in my childhood," Draco joked sarcastically.

"Alright, I'll do it, you don't have to get all pathetic on me," said Hermione. She walked over to Draco and wrapped her arms around her waist. He smelled wonderfully clean – the fresh aroma of soap hit her nose. He buried his face in her hair and squeezed her gently.

"I'm glad we're talking again," he said quietly.

"Me too," said Hermione, closing her eyes and smiling. They released each other and said goodnight.

"I'll see you in the morning," said Draco.

"Not if I see you first," said Hermione, winking.

"Hah…glad that's finally over," Draco replied, and the two laughed.

"Night," said Hermione, turning and going into her room. Her heart was racing like mad, but she was glad she and Draco were at least talking again. He gave her butterflies – she wasn't quite sure what she felt, but she knew it was something. Smiling, she pulled her books out of her bag and laid out on her bed to study.

The next few weeks before the Unity Ball passed quickly. Hermione was spending lots of her time with Ginny and Harry. Ron was often absent, probably usually with Lavender. Hermione had heard through the rumor mill that they were going to the ball together. She was upset, but not surprised after the display they had put on at the Great Hall.

Draco was going with Pansy Parkinson, which was predictable. Hermione wondered if she should feel more saddened that both the boys she cared about were attending with other girls. Instead, she focused on feeling happy. The entirety of Gryffindor was at her side, supporting her. She and Neville made elaborate color coordinating plans for their outfits – he was going to wear the Gryffindor color maroon, while her dress robes were to be a soft gold that complimented her eyes. Spending time with all her friends had really lifted her mood.

Things with Draco had improved markedly as well. They had settled back into their usual pattern of light, playful interaction. Hermione still wanted more from him, emotionally, but she wasn't ready to put her feelings out there herself. So she contented herself with their easy friendship.

The pair couldn't stop looking at each other, though. They exchanged glances during classes, meals, training, and even when they were alone in their chambers together. Hermione wondered when the day would come that those glances finally led into something more.

Training was the only pain in her arse these days. Megan was still sporadically gone on missions. But instead of skipping their rigorous training, she had gotten into the habit of training them whenever she was around at Hogwarts. This usually meant in the early hours of the morning, whenever Hermione was fast asleep. Megan would wake them up by activating their Auror rings. Hermione would have to get up immediately and run to find Megan wherever she was. Hermione was about one more late night meeting from taking her ring off and smashing it into one hundred pieces. She hoped Megan would return to more normal hours very soon.

Hermione and Draco were walking back from the woods after one particularly late night workout that had gone until 6:30 a.m. Since it was only an hour and a half until class time, they had decided to just stay up for the rest of the day rather than try to catch a few minutes of sleep. Hermione was hugging herself against the cold November air, which was made even more chilly by the lack of sun.

Draco glanced over at her. "You're freezing," he said, rubbing his hands down her arms as they walked together.

"Damn these late night workouts," Hermione gritted her teeth as a gust of wind blew towards them. "What kind of missions can she be going on all the time anyways? The war is over, there isn't that much left to do!"

"Oh, I dunno," Draco said carefully. "Whatever she's doing, I'm sure it's pretty important. She wouldn't blow us off for nothing."

"Well, I can't wait till she's done," Hermione said as they entered the castle. She breathed a sigh of relief as the magically warmed air hit her skin. The two started walking towards Head Tower tomorrow.

"So…" Draco started, "who are you taking to the ball tomorrow?"

"I'm going with Neville," Hermione said as she ascended a flight of stairs. "I felt like I needed to take a friend, and Neville's going to be a great person to go with."

"Ah," said Draco, looking down at the steps, a slight smile flitting across his face.

"And who are you going with?" Hermione asked, even though she knew the answer.

"Parkinson. Not like I had much of a choice," Draco said.

"What do you mean?"

"Everyone in Slytherin expects us to go together. They pretty much expect us to get married, too," Draco snorted.

"Oh…ummm, why?" Hermione said, unsure if she should ask.

"Just because of our families – we're both pureblood, longtime Slytherin families, and while we never had an 'arranged' marriage, it was highly encouraged that we meet and interact at Hogwarts."

"That sounds like a lot of pressure."

"Well, they can't _make_ me do anything," Draco said stormily. Hermione walked beside him in silence as they climbed the stairs together.

They entered the chambers without speaking and Hermione headed straight to the shower. Draco went into his room, presumably to read.

Hermione stripped quickly, throwing her sweaty workout clothes into the far corner of the shower. She accidentally caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror, and grimaced at her hair slicked with sweat and plastered to her head. She also noted that she had flecks of cut grass and dirt on her face and neck.

She slid sideways into the shower and turned it on, letting the warm water beat down directly on her face. She ran her fingers through her tangled brown hair and let the water seep through all the strands. She lathered the soap on her hands and rubbed it over her body, enjoying the feel. She loved touching her body now that she was skinny and strong from all of Megan's training.

_The one benefit of being chronically physically overworked_, she thought wryly. She put conditioner in her hair and allowed herself to stay in the shower for just a few more moments. When the conditioner washed out, she reluctantly turned the spray of warm water off and stepped out, immediately reaching for her fluffy white towel.

She examined her skin in the mirror, admiring the flushed tone it had from the shower. She bent over and grabbed her hair, wringing the excess water out. When she pulled herself back up, she gasped.

Draco was standing in the doorway, practically naked with just his boxers on. Her looked mesmerized and slightly stupid, standing with his mouth ajar. She kept her eye on him as she ran her fingers through her hair to take out the rest of the water.

He took two steps towards her, his eyes focused on the delicate skin around her collarbone. He was less than a foot away from her, and the pair had not said a word to each other. Hermione nervously flicked her eyes up to his, and she saw desire burning in them. The intensity of his gaze turned her on immensely. He reached his hands up to rest on her arms, moving them slowly up and down.

Hermione half-closed her eyes. She knew that he was about to kiss her. When he did, it was salty and strong, just like it had been before. Hermione pushed into the kiss, immediately needing more from him. As she wrapped her arms around his neck, her towel fell to the floor, eliminating the last barrier between them. Draco automatically cupped her breasts, feeling them almost timidly under his hands.

Hermione was on fire and had no time for patience. She grabbed his hands in hers and pushed them more roughly against her breasts. She entwined her hands through his hair and pulled him towards the shower, barely giving him time to shove his boxers off.

She pulled them both into the shower, collapsing onto the back wall as her fell onto her, pressing her body into the cold tile. He reached back and turned the water on, and it fell between them, quickly drenching their bodies. Hermione looked up at Draco playfully, and he smiled back, leaning his forehead against hers. She nibbled very lightly on his lower lip, eliciting a satisfied groan from Draco. He played with her nipples, turning her on even more until she felt like she was burning.

Hermione turned away from him and thrust her ass out, grinding it against his hard cock and smirking when she heard him gasp in elation. "Please?" she asked sweetly, turning her head to look at him. Draco needed no further coaxing and grabbed her ass eagerly, guiding it onto his aching cock. Both moaned together upon feeling their bodies connected once more.

Draco pounded into her urgently, holding on to her shoulder as the water streamed down on both of their backs. Hermione turned and bit his finger gently, and he grunted in surprised. He stuck his hand under her and pushed against her clit, causing her to cry out. He played with her breast gently with his other hand, thrusting into her rhythmically until she moaned loudly and he felt her tighten around his cock, spasming with pleasure against him. Only then did he feel free to come, and he spilled his seed inside of her, sighing gratefully. After a few seconds they separated.

Draco was the first to move, and he stepped towards her, grabbing her face gently and planting soft kisses all over it. Hermione reciprocated by placing a gentle kiss on the tip of his nose, tasting some of the water that still poured down from the shower head. Draco hugged her and placed his head on top of hers. Hermione nestled her head into his chest, listening to his errant heartbeat.

They stood like that for almost a minute before Hermione made a move to leave. She reached over to shut off the water and started to climb out of the shower.

"Hey – where are you going?" Draco asked.

"Well, I thought I'd get ready for class," Hermione replied, reaching for her towel.

"Wait – can you maybe…sleep with me for a while?" Draco looked at her, his eyes pleading.

Hermione's eyes searched his back. "Sure," she said.

The two dried off and placed their towels back on the rack, walking naked to Draco's room. He guided her in with his hand on the small of her back. Draco's bed was luxurious and large, and the two climbed in under the green satin sheets. He curled up behind her, spooning her back as he gently ran his hand up and down her side. She felt his soft breathing against her neck.

"Thanks for staying," he murmured against her, kissing her neck softly. Goosebumps ran up and down her legs.

"This is nice," she whispered back. She covered her hand with his, and closed her eyes, enjoying the feel of his taut body against her back. As they both drifted off into sleep as the morning sun began to rise, their Auror rings aligned so that they were touching.


	9. Chapter 9

When Hermione first awoke, she was momentarily confused by her surroundings. The bed was covered in green sheets and unfamiliar. Then she heard the light breathing against her neck and remembered – she was with Draco.

She looked around silently for a moment. It was kind of strange that she had lived here with Draco since August and had never really seen his room before. The walls were tall, and white with silver moldings. The Slytherin crest was painted on the far wall. All of that stuff was predictable. But on the wall far from the doorway was a moving picture of a Quidditch team – Hermione couldn't quite pick out which one they were – playing on an open field. There was also a picture of him at a younger age (twelve, perhaps?) with another younger boy. And lastly, there was a picture of him with his parents. However, it wasn't the standard family portrait that she would have expected, but rather one where the three of them were on a sailboat, and waving.

The sight of Lucius Malfoy smiling and waving made Hermione snort disbelievingly. Draco moved languidly behind her, squeezing her arm gently and stretching in the golden morning light.

"Good morning," he mumbled into her hair. "Thanks for sleeping here with me."

Hermione was quiet, enjoying his touch. He reached up to tuck her hair behind her ear and did it four times, making sure all the hair was behind her ear. She smiled at his touch.

"I think I missed Potions already," said Hermione. "This is the first time I've ever slept through a class, besides when I was sick or something."

"Really?" Draco yawned. "No wonder you're Head Girl. I've slept through a couple this year," he replied nonchalantly.

"I heard you get to five skipped classes and they take away your Head Chambers privileges," Hermione said seriously.

"Really?" Draco's eyes flew open in alarm, looking at hers.

Hermione laughed. "Sucker."

Draco tugged gently on her curls. "Don't tease a poor boy. Speaking of teasing, you should sleep in here naked more often. It looks really good." Hermione blushed at his words. "I mean, _really_ good. Seriously, any time you get the urge…just pop in here."

Hermione rolled her eyes. "I'll keep it in mind," she said, rolling off the bed. Draco caught the tip of her fingers and held on.

"You're leaving already?"

"I'm going to get ready for second class," she said. "You probably should too, Head Boy."

"Okay," he said. Hermione waited for him to say something else, or maybe to even protest her leaving, but nothing came. She turned on her heel and stalked out of his room.

After leaving Draco, Hermione had gotten dressed quickly and just made it to her next class of the day on time. She had no idea whether Draco made it or not. To be honest, she was fairly angry with him.

She had left his room in surprise, after expecting him to say something substantial to her, something to make her stay. But he had just let her go with a simple 'okay.'

What in the world was she supposed to think? Did he even care at all about her? Or had he just been using her to have sex – pretending to be friends, forming a connection with her, all so that he could work up to getting her into bed whenever he felt like it?

She fumed as she climbed the stairs back up to Head Tower after class. _Had this been his plan all along? To become friends with the Head Girl, seduce her, and then laugh with his friends about it afterwards?_

She stopped in her tracks – suddenly unsure if she was being too harsh on him. _After all, he hadn't said anything to her about their new type of relationship, but she hadn't said anything either. Maybe he was feeling just as confused as she was._ She quickly brushed this passing thought out of her mind, determined to stay mad at him until he gave her some kind of explanation.

She walked through the portrait hole and bee lined for the desk in her room. She desperately needed to catch up on her studies, and although using the Friday evening was not ideal, she couldn't keep falling further behind. She pulled out her DADA book and placed it open on her desk, just starting to read the first few pages of their new assignment when she heard a sharp knock on the door.

Puzzled, she rose to go open it. _Would it be Draco? _ She wondered. As she pulled it open a mane of red hair caught her eye, and she let her breath out, relieved.

"Hey Gin," she said, shutting the door behind the young redhead as she bounded into the room and flopped down on the bed.

"I am sooo jealous you live here," she moaned. "I wish I had a shot at Head Girl next year."

"Well, you still could," said Hermione. "Finals haven't started yet – you can start studying with me tonight if you want."

"That's what I came to talk to you about," said Ginny, turning over and wrinkling her nose at her brunette friend. "Studying? Tonight? C'mon, you're not seriously missing the Gryffindor party." Gryffindor seventh years had been planning a party in their common room for several weeks now. Hermione had originally planned on going but had decided to back out when she fell behind in her schoolwork.

"Yes, I seriously am," Hermione said, pacing around the bed. "I feel so behind in school and I haven't had a decent chance to catch up yet. Plus, you know me. Parties aren't really my thing."

"This is your thing! It's your whole year, all the kids you've gone to school with for ages," said Ginny, her green eyes wide. "You're going to have a great time. As for school," Ginny scoffed, "that's what Sunday night is for! Not Friday. Stop worrying so much; you're _Hermione Granger. _You can do anything!"

"Gin, it's not that easy. If I don't do well in school this year, they might not accept me into the Auror Academy, and then all my training this year will have been for nothing!" Even as Hermione protested out loud, though, she could feel herself coming around. She knew she would have a great time there, and it would be much more fun to spend the evening with her friends rather than pouring over her books and brooding about Draco.

Ginny could sense Hermione's resolve weakening. "Please?" Ginny asked, looking in Hermione's eyes. "For me? It'll be so much fun, and it'll be the most time we've spent together all year."

Hermione sighed. She knew she was going to give in eventually, so it might as well be now. "Fine, I'll go with you. You had better let me have enough time to study the rest of the week though!"

Ginny squealed. "Yay! I knew you weren't going to miss it. Come with me, you have to help me find something to wear!" Ginny grabbed Hermione's hand and pulled her from her room, bounding down through the portrait hole to her dormitory as Hermione stumbled along behind her.

Ginny was staring in the mirror for the hundredth time that night. "Do you think this eyeliner is too intense?" she asked. Hermione glanced at her younger friend. Ginny was experimenting with her makeup that night and had opted for a light purple liner to fringe her green eyes. Her eyelid was covered in silver shadow, and bright fuchsia lipstick covered her pout.

"Umm," said Hermione gently, "it might be a little much altogether." Ginny squinted her eyes in the mirror, assessing the damage to her face, and sighed, starting to take the paint off with a damp tissue. Hermione had played it a little safer, only opting for a touch of dark eyeliner and a little bit of mascara. However, to her it felt nice – she rarely had the time or need for makeup this year, owing to the amount of time she spent outside running around in the mud.

Tonight, she enjoyed the extra attention she spent on her appearance. She thought the little makeup she had on made her look older, and dare she think it, sexier. Ginny had even insisted that Hermione forgo her usual, fairly predictable wardrobe and had pushed something from her own closet upon her. She was wearing a luxurious, green velvet tank dress that reached far enough down her leg to not be obscene, but it remained fairly alluring. She had simple diamond studs in her ears and the top part of her hair was clipped back.

Ginny had been bolder than Hermione and was sporting flirtatiously tight jeans, along with a bustier that had a corset attached. She was definitely comfortable with showing off her womanly figure. Her bright red hair hung halfway down her back.

Hermione waited patiently for Ginny as she redid her makeup, much more tamely this time. By the end she looked quite pretty and much more like herself.

Ginny turned to Hermione. "Ready?" she asked.

"Already?" Hermione said nervously, adjusting her earring in the mirror. She wasn't quite the social butterfly that Ginny was, and she wasn't sure she was ready for the night to start yet.

Ginny giggled. "Come on, everyone's going to be there already! We don't want to be super late – we'll miss all the fun!" Hermione looked in the mirror one last time and pulled the top of her dress. Ginny catcalled and grabbed Hermione by the hand. "Let's go!"

The girls left Ginny's dorm and headed to Gryffindor common room, hearing the music playing well before they entered the room. Ginny was right – everyone _was_ there already, and the party appeared to be in full swing.

As soon as they entered, Ginny immediately flounced off to go find Harry. Hermione spotted Luna and Neville and decided to join them.

"Hi guys," she said as she walked up, smoothing her dress.

"Hello, Hermione," said Luna pleasantly. "I rather thought we were supposed to wear Gryffindor colors to the party. But the Slytherin colors suit you nicely."

Hermione was momentarily confused until she realized she was wearing a green dress. She hadn't really thought about it; she just thought the color went nicely with her skin. Luna, on the other hand, was decked out in maroon robes with gold trim, and wearing a headdress of what appeared to be a lion's mane to match.

"I didn't even think about it, I just threw on whatever Ginny handed to me," she explained. "You look great though, Luna."

"Thank you," she replied. "I thought people might like it if I wore the full lion's head hat that roared, but I seem to have misplaced it." Hermione suspected that perhaps Luna hadn't misplaced it, but that it was rather stolen by her fellow Ravenclaws. She chose to remain silent though, and nodded.

"So, I'm excited for the Unity Ball tomorrow," Neville said, changing the subject. "Luna, who are you going with?"

"Michael Corner," she replied. "He asked me, and I thought it was funny, because I don't know him very well. But I guess that is the point of the ball – to meet new people."

Hermione and Neville nodded in agreement. "Hermione, you ready for our big presentation tomorrow?"

Hermione cocked her head in confusion. "Presentation…did I miss a class assignment?"

Neville and Luna exchanged glances and smirked. "No…you know, right? We have to start off the dancing tomorrow at the Unity Ball. The Head Girl and Head Boy always start the ceremonies. McGonagall said we have to come early to be there in time for the presentation."

Hermione inwardly rolled her eyes. She should have guessed she would have had to interact with Draco tomorrow. They always made a big production out of the Head Boy and Head Girl. "Do I dance with you?" she asked Neville.

"Well, you and Malfoy start the dancing, but then I get to cut in and he can dance with his date. Don't worry, it won't be for long," Neville said with a serious face.

"Ugh, guess I'm not eating lunch tomorrow. I don't know how I would be able to keep it down dancing across from his weasel face," Hermione snarked. Luna giggled and Hermione suddenly felt flushed.

"Would you both excuse me a moment?" she asked. "I think I'm going to grab some punch." Luna and Neville nodded.

"See you later, Hermione," Neville called as she walked away from the pair. The space between her legs was suddenly sweaty and uncomfortable.

"Excuse me," she said as she passed by a younger Hufflepuff she didn't know on the way to the refreshment table. She poured herself a small glass of punch, sniffed it cautiously, and recoiled at the strong smell of alcohol. The punch had obviously been spiked already.

"Fan of my work, are ya?" a familiar voice asked in her ear. Hermione turned around to see Ron.

"Ron!" she exclaimed, looking him eye to eye. He was wearing an impish grin and already looked slightly knackered. "This is your doing?"

"Don't be silly," he replied. "It wasn't all me, Harry helped too." Hermione gave him a disdainful look, and Ron grabbed her by the elbow gently. "C'mon, you're at a party. There's no one here under sixth year." Hermione looked at him pointedly. "Fifth year?"

"Don't worry – I'm already out, there's no way I'm slipping back into prefect duty now," Hermione said, taking a small swig of the punch. "So…how've you been? Where's Lavender at?" Hermione asked, scanning the room for her blonde mane.

"Dunno," Ron shrugged. "She'll probably show up at some point. You know, we're not together or anything," he said softly, looking in her eyes.

"I know," Hermione said. "I just didn't want to do anything to rock the boat."

"So, are you coming to the Quidditch game tomorrow?" Ron asked. "It's Hufflepuff. It's going to be a slaughter."

Hermione giggled. "Well, I can't see myself doing any homework before the Unity Ball. And I haven't been to a Quidditch game in ages. I'm sure Ginny will convince me to come along."

"Good. They're predicting I'll have seventeen saves. At least two of them shoestring," Ron joked with mocked bravado.

"Hah," said Hermione. "Who exactly are 'they'?"

Ron shifted his eyes around conspiratorially. "Just Seamus and Dean. They're making a betting pool. And I may have exaggerated the actual number a bit. BUT," he raised his voice, "it's going to be a great game and I expect to do spectacularly."

"I don't know how you squeeze through the door with that big head of yours," Hermione mock sighed.

"It do anything for you?" Ron winked, putting his arm around her as he steered her through the party. Hermione relaxed under his comfortable touch. This felt like the old them again – them as friends. She wasn't sure what Ron's motivation was tonight though. Did he miss her as a friend? As something more? Was he just really drunk?

Ron directed her towards Harry and Ginny. Ginny was hanging off of Harry, her red hair tumbling across her face. Harry's arm was around her bare waist and his glasses were askew.

"You all started having a good time quickly," said Hermione. She couldn't help but grin when Ginny raised her face and gave her a sloppy smile.

"Mione!" she cried, throwing her arms around the slender brunette. Hermione half hugged her back, half held her up from the ground.

"Harry, have you been pouring punch down her throat?" Hermione asked as Ginny hung onto her and played with her hair.

"I dunno what you're talking about," Harry said, barely slurring his words as his face upturned into a shit-eating grin.

"It's alright, mate," said Ron. "We'll watch both of you tonight. Besides, you need plenty of alcohol. We have a big game tomorrow!"

Hermione stared at Ron. "Alcohol? He's playing tomorrow."

"Right," said Ron. "He needs to get his flying buzz on!" he shouted, and he and Harry slapped both hands in the air.

Hermione giggled and shook her head. Life was so different after the war – everyone was so carefree and a lot more fun. The dark air that had clouded over everyone had dissipated, and they could all finally breathe. She made sure Ginny was standing independently, and walked over to put her arms around both Harry and Ron. They hugged her back in return.

"I miss you guys," she said, speaking into their shirts. "I miss us all hanging out like this."

"Yeah cause you're never bloody around," said Harry, tugging her hair. "You're making your own bed there."

"I know," sighed Hermione. She really needed more of this in her life. "It'll get better. I need this too much."

"Right. No more hiding in your room. Or the library. Who even knows where you go?" said Ron. Hermione felt a pang of guilt as she thought of her time spent with Draco.

"Right," she said. "None of that." She glanced over at Ginny, who was intently playing with the threads of a pillow on the nearby couch and plucking some of them out. "Uhh guys? I'd better put Ginny to bed. I think she's too drunk."

"Stay a while," pleaded Ron. Harry nodded in agreement.

"I'm tired too! Not used to being up this late," she said, and realized it was true as her brain silently stifled a yawn. "I'll come back out for a bit after I put her down. I can't believe you all aren't trying to get to bed – how on earth are you going to fly tomorrow at ten in the a.m.?"

"Practice," shrugged Harry. "Also, it's Hufflepuff."

"Cocky losers," joked Hermione. "Maybe I will root for Hufflepuff tomorrow."

"You'll be the only one," shouted Ron. Hermione rolled her eyes as he and Harry slapped hands again, and she went over to Ginny and placed her around her shoulders.

"C'mon, Gin," she said gently, "let's get you to bed. I don't know how you got so drunk so quickly." Ginny followed her quietly like a little puppy as Hermione wove her way through the Gryffindor common room. She pushed Ginny up the stairs in front of them into the sixth year girls' dormitory.

"Hermione, you're such a good friend," Ginny crooned drunkenly in Hermione's ear as she supported her over to her bed.

"Thanks Ginny," Hermione said as she helped her take off her top and jeans. "Here, put this on." She pulled a soft cotton nightgown from Ginny's dresser and put it in Ginny's hands. Ginny slipped it on and stumbled a little bit.

"Steady," said Hermione as she gripped Ginny's arm. She moved her towards her bed.

"Mione?"

"Yeah Ginny?"

"You know, you don't have to get back together with Ron."

Hermione stopped, surprised. "Wherever did you get that idea?"

Ginny was looking at her as seriously as she could through her squinty, drunken eyes and smudged eyeliner. "I just…I think that if you don't want to get back together with him, you shouldn't have to. I think he expects you to. But you both are friends, and you will stay friends if you don't date." Ginny yawned and shuffled over to the bed by herself. "You're such good friends," she said dreamily.

"Right," Hermione said, distracted. "What are you talking about? Of course we're friends. Did Ron say he wanted to get back together?"

"He mentioned that you might," she said, crawling into her sheets and closing her eyes into a drunken smile. "But I think you should do what you want to do. Because who is the boss of you? You are. I can't tell you what to do. And Ron can't tell you what to do."

Hermione smiled – she loved when Ginny attempted to give drunken advice. "Alright, Ginny. I got it – I'm my own boss." She pulled the covers up to Ginny's chin. "And I'm sure Ron and I will stay friends. It's just hard sometimes after a breakup. It doesn't come naturally right away."

"Good. I want you to be with someone you fit well with," said Ginny, turning over sleepily. "And you and Ron are really good friends."

"Right," whispered Hermione. "Friends." She sat on the edge of the bed, but Ginny had stopped talking. Hermione listened closely until she heard Ginny breathing slowly and evenly. She crept out slowly, closing the dormitory door softly behind her.

The party was still in full swing when she re-entered the common room, and Ron and Harry had become the life of it. They were standing in the center, chanting "GRYFFINDOR! GRYFFINDOR!" at the equivalent of a dull roar as the rest of the Gryffindors joined in at top volume. Hermione laughed to herself and clapped to the chant as she rushed to join them.

"Hey," shouted Ron when he saw her. "We're doing the victory chant."

"I like it," Hermione shouted back, "it's very easy." She noticed Ron and Harry pumping their fists in the air and copied them. The energy in the room was incredible, and it was fun being reunited with her friends again, in the center of attention. She couldn't bear to leave the party at this point.

She stayed for a bit longer, chatting with other Gryffindors after the din had died down. Somehow, before long, she and Ron had found each other, and they sat down on the couch together, each holding another drink.

They were joking around in their usual fashion, and Hermione was peering at him through a drunken haze. She kept turning Ginny's advice over in her brain.

_Why did she keep emphasizing that we were friends? Does she not like Ron and I together as a couple? But it's so easy with him – we've known each other forever. Is that what she was worried about, that I might get back together with him because it was easy? What does Ron even want, for that matter? He's staring at me too._

The alcohol had started to affect her brain – a rare occurrence for Hermione Granger – and she was having trouble processing the jumbled advice from Ginny along with the current intense stare she was getting from Ron. Her body was starting to shut down and she decided it was probably best to leave.

"Ron, I've got to go to bed," she managed to blurt out. "I think I'm too drunk."

"I'll walk you," he said, jumping up from the couch. He gave her his hand and pulled her up (she managed to not wobble more than a little bit), and he led her out of the common room into Head Tower.

They walked up the staircase, with more than a little trouble, and their progress was slow. But for some reason, this was extra funny to both of them, and they collapsed on the floor laughing in front of the portrait hole.

"Thanks for walking me back," Hermione said once their laughs had subsided.

"Anytime," said Ron, his face suddenly serious. "I missed you."

Hermione caught the intensity of his glance and started breathing more shallowly. _Is he going to move in? _she wondered. _Is he going to try to kiss me? _

Ron, however, did nothing more than gaze at her for an extra second, then he got to his feet and offered her a hand up. "I hope you'll be at the game tomorrow. Now that you know the victory chant and all," he said.

"I hope I'll remember it," she joked.

"Well, I'm sure one of the fans will help you out," he said. He started down the stairs and she turned to go inside the portrait hole.

"Oh Hermione?" he said, turning around on the stairs.

"Yeah?" she asked, hesitating before climbing in the hole.

"Save me a dance tomorrow night? We haven't danced at a real Hogwarts ball before."

Hermione grinned, remembering the fiasco that had been the Yule Ball during their fourth year. "Of course. Just remember to ask me first."

"Like I'd forget that again," Ron said. "The wrath…"

Hermione giggled and bid him goodnight. She stumbled through the portrait hole, still laughing, and adjusted her dress on the other side. She walked unsteadily on her heels to her room, not noticing the blond boy who gazed at her from his doorway.

I walk home alone with you, in the mood you're born into.  
Sometimes you let me in, and I take it on the chin.  
I can't get clean again. I wanna know, can we get clean again,  
The God of Wine comes crashing through the headlights of a car that  
Took you farther than you thought you'd ever want to go.  
We can't get back again.  
You can't get back again.  
She takes a drink and then she waits,  
The alcohol it permeates.  
And soon the cells give way, and cancels out the day.

I can't keep it all together…

Author Notes: My favorite song by Third Eye Blind at the end, God of Wine. Thought it was fitting for this chapter. Would really like reviews, especially on the way Luna was written. I really don't like writing her and I would like feedback on how to write her more "true" to her character; otherwise I'm just going to use her much much less. Hope you all enjoyed this one =)


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